Kostya Tszyu was a better amateur & professional than GGG

[chrisJS]

I'd probably give a slight edge to Tszyu because his resume has more depth and he was undisputed. He started out strong and got wins that were good like the vastly more experienced (though much smaller) LaPorte in his 4th fight, Bramble wasn't prime anymore and was losing some but he did get robbed vs. Carr (a top prospect then) and for Tszyu to utterly dominate with less than 10 fights and 18 months was impressive as were wins over Lopez and impressive and utterly dominant wins over Sanchez and Hernandez all prior to winning his first title.

Rodriguez was a pretty good champion on a good run. I think his only loss in years was vs. Trinidad and Tszyu obliterated him. Bergman was a hot contender at the time too before Tszyu brutalized him. It definitely hurts his standing that he was stopped vs. Phillips there's no way around that but he then came back and went on a great run.

Ruelas was on a hot streak and was a top contender and Tszyu absolutely ripped him apart. Hurtado was a damn good fighter too and Tszyu-Gonzalez was considered basically a toss-up and that was painfully one-sided. Tszyu was a decided underdog vs. Judah and in Mitchell II (because of Mitchell's form and Tszyu's injuries) and he iced them in no time. I remember online around those times people were high as hell on Zab and Tszyu wasn't given a chance and almost the same for Mitchell II. He surprised a lot of folks with those two and made a lot of folks eat their words.

Leija, Tackie, Urkal all add depth to his resume and were worthy contenders. People need to remember 140 was considered one of the hot divisions and he basically dominated it for 10 years. Sure, none of his victims has gone down in history but sometimes that happens when you've got a dominant champion.

I think Tszyu is just a more impressive fighter overall too but didn't get the same fanfare. Maybe because he was living in Australia and coming to America just to fight and said little to the press it was hard for him to make a big splash here and then he was also around at the time of other charismatic great fighters with big fanbases in America like the Heavyweights (Holyfield, Lewis, Tyson), Roy Jones, Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya etc; I doubt Golovkin or Canelo for that matter would be as big if they had to compete with that spotlight.

Golovkin has been an excellent fighter there's no doubt about it but I think Tszyu as of now would stand as being more impressive but then again I am a huge Tszyu fan.

[Madison Boxing]

Tszyu got schooled by Ricky hatton when he was 36 whilst golovkin dropped a highly controversial decision to canelo at 36

[chrisJS]

Tszyu got schooled by Ricky hatton when he was 36 whilst golovkin dropped a highly controversial decision to canelo at 36

Marquez was KO'ing Pacquaio at 39, Hopkins was reigning as lineal at 175 whereas Robinson was losing to Downes and the lesser Moyer at the same age so are Marquez and Hopkins >> Robinson? There's about a million other examples which show that age comparisons don't really work like that. Randall was older than Chavez when he beat him so is Randall >> Chavez?

On the flip-side Tszyu was already lineal and undisputed in his division by 32 whereas Golovkin hadn't beaten anyone of note at 32 or really done much of note either.

[strykr619]

Marquez was KO'ing Pacquaio at 39, Hopkins was reigning as lineal at 175 whereas Robinson was losing to Downes and the lesser Moyer at the same age so are Marquez and Hopkins >> Robinson? There's about a million other examples which show that age comparisons don't really work like that. Randall was older than Chavez when he beat him so is Randall >> Chavez?

On the flip-side Tszyu was already lineal and undisputed in his division by 32 whereas Golovkin hadn't beaten anyone of note at 32 or really done much of note either.

It took Marquez roided out of his mind with a lucky shot to KO Pac (he was getting dominated and schooled until that KO).

[Madison Boxing]

Marquez was KO'ing Pacquaio at 39, Hopkins was reigning as lineal at 175 whereas Robinson was losing to Downes and the lesser Moyer at the same age so are Marquez and Hopkins >> Robinson? There's about a million other examples which show that age comparisons don't really work like that. Randall was older than Chavez when he beat him so is Randall >> Chavez?

On the flip-side Tszyu was already lineal and undisputed in his division by 32 whereas Golovkin hadn't beaten anyone of note at 32 or really done much of note either.

who did tszyu ever beat?

[chrisJS]

who did tszyu ever beat?

Judah, Mitchell, Gonzalez, Ruelas, Rodriguez, Hurtado, Lopez to name a few. Bergman, Pineda, Lopez, Bramble, Urkal, Tackie, Leija are all equal or better than the likes of DeGeale, Lemiuex, Stevens, Geale etc

Like I said Tszyu has more depth. The Judah and Mitchell wins are bigger than Golovkin win over Jacobs. You can’t just dismiss them now that’s what Calzaghe bashers do with Lacy and Kessler it’s how hot the matches were at the time. Tszyu was undisputed and beat a lot more champs than GGG did.

[Shape up]

Because Golovkin knew how to hype himself. I dunno about Golovkin being one of the greatest middleweights but he is a more skilled fighter than kosta tszyu.

Anyway, his career went like I said it would, he never got a chance to shine in his prime.

He is no where near as skilled as tszyu, watch tszyu as a 19 year old fighting vernon Forrest in the amateur world title, he made Forrest look like a novice, tszyu became a lazy fighter as a pro

[Shape up]

Tszyu was very overrated. I think the Judah fight was a fluke. Zab would have beat Tszyu in a rematch.

Be honest, how many of tszyu fights have you actually seen, be honest now

[chrisJS]

He is no where near as skilled as tszyu, watch tszyu as a 19 year old fighting vernon Forrest in the amateur world title, he made Forrest look like a novice, tszyu became a lazy fighter as a pro

I don’t think he got lazy as a pro for the most part. I think he’d fallen in love with his power and I think took some shortcuts before the Phillips fight probably because of his pending court case with Bill Mordey.

When he came back after that loss he was very dedicated. Full three month training camps and worked really hard to become undisputed. Injuries unfortunately took the end of his prime. He had some career threatening injuries that mounted up and robbed him of some big defenses.

[satiev1]

I also have Tszyu down as a better puncher tbh, he stopped more championship level fighters.

Yet he never had nearly the same hype and clout as GGG has had. I've never really understood it.

Don't get me wrong he's a great fighter and has really proved himself over the past couple of years but his career and accomplishments have been vastly overrated, his p4p ranking normally inflated, in reality he's on the same level as the other top 154-160 lbers...he was never able to create the separation his fans, and followers promised. The Jacobs fight was nip and tuck, so we're both Canelo fights, and I'd imagine anyone else at that level it would be a similar story.

Tszyu arguably beat better fighters in a more impressive fashion, but at the very least his resume stacks up against GGGs, yet one guy is seen by many as one of the greatest middleweights of all time and the other a solid HOFer at best

There is a myth around GGG which makes people believe he is better than he is, I've never quite been able to put my finger on why

I'm going to have to strongly disagree here. GGG's amateur credentials are better. He won worlds and a silver medal at the olympics vs kostya who won gold at worlds and a bronze. GGG never ever got koed cold by a guy on the level of Vince phillips. The loss is a huge minus to kostya and it happened in his prime. GGG also never lost to a guy on the level of hatton past his prime. GGG past his prime got a controversial loss against one of the best p4p fighters. Kostya was good, but he was not on ggg's level. I will also argue that a past prime GGG beating danny was a better win than kostya beating a prime judah.

Talking about skills, kostya had a better straight hand precision, but ggg had a better body attack, much much better defense, and a much more superior jab.