Prime Tszyu vs Mayweather?

[BennyST]

Great fight I think. One that really could have gone either way, but I would still lean toward Mayweather. But, Tyszu fought boxers very well as he had very good timing and could negate their speed with his own underrated skills and timing. If we're talking about a prime Tyszu at his best then it's quite possible he could win. I would give him a better chance than nearly any other fighter that was around at that time, or this time for that matter at beating Mayweather.

Still, I think the likely scenario would be a close UD for Mayweather after some interesting moments. One of Tszyu's good strengths was that he was actually very hard to counter well and he could fight the necessary way to put a boxer off their game plan. He also had a very sharp, hard left hook in close to the body that often did great damage.

It would have been a great fight I think.

[BennyST]

Kostas doesnt have any head movement and would probably be eating counters all night. Plus Kosta loves to get his opponents on the ropes, which is Floyds A game. Not sure how it'd work.

That is utterly wrong. One of Tszyu's great defensive skills was his head movement. He actually had brilliant head movement. Obviously his head movement by the time he was thirty five had lessened but during his prime years he was very difficult to hit cleanly and slipped shots very well with quick, subtle head movement.

[WhoreUs]

Kostas doesnt have any head movement and would probably be eating counters all night. Plus Kosta loves to get his opponents on the ropes, which is Floyds A game. Not sure how it'd work.

vernon forrest disagrees with you.

[BennyST]

Nice post but I think what separates Floyd from a Judah or Mitchell is that he's an excellent, excellent in-fighter. Not to mention was better on the outside than both of those guys. Tszyu simply did not fight as well on the inside. Vince Phillips was the first person to expose this. Hatton did well utilizing a similar tactic. Tszyu would've been overmatched in close quarters and Floyd would wisely capitalize.

Phillips didn't expose anything apart from Tszyu's lack of stamina training at that time. I don't think many people know that much about Tszyu as I always hear strange comments like he was 'exposed' somehow against Phillips.

Most forget that Tszyu was owning him without much trouble until he ran out of gas completely from terrible training habits. As you would kow after that he started training properly again and didn't lose until he was 36 years old in against a 25 year old. It had nothing to do with 'inside' fighting especially as Phillips didn't fight him on the inside. It was a typical mid-range fight that can down to nothing more than Tszyu running out of gas. ****** training.

Mayweather is a better inside fighter but it wasn't something that Tszyu got 'exposed' in.

[WhoreUs]

Phillips didn't expose anything apart from Tszyu's lack of stamina training at that time. I don't think many people know that much about Tszyu as I always hear strange comments like he was 'exposed' somehow against Phillips.

Most forget that Tszyu was owning him without much trouble until he ran out of gas completely from terrible training habits. As you would kow after that he started training properly again and didn't lose until he was 36 years old in against a 25 year old. It had nothing to do with 'inside' fighting especially as Phillips didn't fight him on the inside. It was a typical mid-range fight that can down to nothing more than Tszyu running out of gas. ****** training.

Mayweather is a better inside fighter but it wasn't something that Tszyu got 'exposed' in.

people forget that tszyu had problems making weight and wasn't training properly at the time.

after the phillips loss , tszyu changed his diet and training habits.

people can try to believe what they want but what tszyu did in his career afterwards speaks for itself.



many of these guys who bring up vince phillips don't even know who phillips is let alone saw the phillips-tszyu fight.

phillips was a good fighter.

[FistoftheDallasStar]

People coming on here saying that Mayweather wins this one easily obviously haven't watched enough boxing in their lifetime. Like another poster put up: Kostya did have unique uncanny timing of his power punches. Every fighter knew this and would avoid him like the plague. Zab didn't and paid dearly for it (The loss derailed his career and he was never again the same fighter he was before the fight with Tszyu). This was the reason why Floyd side-stepped Kostya to fight a twice defeated by Tszyu fighter in Sharmba Mitchell. That was weak.

Most great fighters have had a loss on their record. Because they suck?, no young padawan, its because they pushed themselves to fight beyond their comfort level. The loss with Phillips was a learning loss. The type of fight and risk that Mayweather has never taken in his career. That loss made him change into the tactician he would soon become. Maybe if Floyd would have fought and lost to Tszyu he would have become a better fighter himself.. I for one would have respected him more. Just because you have a 0 doesn't necessarily mean you are the best ATG

In a side note, Tszyu fought Ricky Hatton in his own backyard. A champion that everyone avoided could not get fighters to meet him in a neutral setting. If anyone has seen the fight you would see the horrible officiating that night. The ref allowed Ricky to rabbit punch and hold and hit all night. Floyd would have lost against that Hatton if these same tactics were allowed. But watch Mayweather/Hatton and see the ref swatting Ricky's hands and warning him not to hold and hit... Kostya never complained the whole fight and even congratulated Ricky for the win. He was a stand up guy and fighter. We will of course never see the truth come out of PBF's mouth but deep down he knows he avoided Mr. Tszyu at all costs.

[boxasmash]

Floyd weighs in 146 lbs for the 140lbs fight and the fight is cancelled.

[WhoreUs]

We will of course never see the truth come out of PBF's mouth but deep down he knows he avoided Mr. Tszyu at all costs.

there was talk of kostya-pbf don't know how far along they got though.

hard to say. maybe if kostya had beaten hatton we would have seen it.

don't know if pbf feared kostya. i know uncle roger did though.

[Benncollinsaad]

Did Kostya ever ask Phillips for a rematch? I bet Phillips didn't want to fight him again. He knew he just got away with beating a poor version of Tszyu.

[FistoftheDallasStar]

there was talk of kostya-pbf don't know how far along they got though.

hard to say. maybe if kostya had beaten hatton we would have seen it.

don't know if pbf feared kostya. i know uncle roger did though.

Roger got beat down but I'm sure Floyd had someone telling him not to take the fight. It may have been Roger. I don't think fear of a fighter is Floyd's problem, fear of losing or not having an advantage over his opponents is.