If the original eight was still in order when Tszyu came around and he competed against welterweight's best from 1994 to 2004, how does he fare? I ask because as gifted as Tszyu was, history was a bit unkind to him. A number of his generation's best either competed seven pounds north (Trinidad, Quartey, Forrest, etc.), skipped his class (Mosley), made a brief stop there (DLH), or just had bad timing (Mayweather, Cotto (?)). Had he fought even a few of these men his resume would have been greatly enhanced. Note: This is imagining that power, speed, etc. is not lost due to the gain.
Mid eighties it makes some difference, but I think Tyszu was a brilliant fighter, too big to ever consider fighting a LW he would easily make WW and be even stronger and more devastating, I always saw him as being a guy able to beat ODLH and Oscar had a lot of respect for him and I detected maybe a miniscule tough of fear due to memories of seeng him back when they were all amatuers. Tszyu demonstrated at the amateur level that he was far above all others at his weight, he made Vernon Forrest like very ordinary, Forrest was more suited to the pro ranks abd so was Kostya, I think Kostya would have been a champion and still a dominant one but what bothered me about Kostya was when he separated from Johnny Lewis for that Russian mobster lookin bloke who knew jackshyte about boxing he was in the hands of a manager who was a boxing amateur/beginner and without the one guy who had turned Kostya into the connsumate professional, Johnny Lewis. Suddenly we now have a fighter who wants to take long breaks between fights even up to a year, this is disaster for any boxer and any sportsman whatsoever, instead of being a finely tuned terror of the boxing ring we have a guy fighting at maybe %70 and still managing success in the ring, his career would have been better off if he lost a fight during the early part of the Vlad Warton experiment, this would have rocked Tszyu out of the complacency and spurred him back to reality and then by the time Hatton comes around Kostya back to his best with Lewis at the helm wipes the floor with Hatton. Kostya had more talent than most of the best fighters of his day p4p, in Australia nearly everyone rated and still do Kostya as almost twice as good as Fenech was, we saw every Kostya fight from his debut as a pro on tv. I saw him close up even before then at an exhibition at Martin Plaza in the Sydney CBD along with Fenech and Virgil Hill and the other top fighters from the Lewis stable and Kostya looked to be at another level altogether, you would have backed him even then to have put Fenech to the sword, he was sensational, FAST, man his hands then were scary fast, I just knew this bloke was gonna be a world champion and a dominant one at that, I saw greatness that day.
Yeah his resume would have looked awesome with those scalps, Mayweather and Cotto were too young and were never going to be an option, when Mayweather started to win titles he was at a much lower weight, Cotto I don't think was seriously in the picture, Forrest ? Tszyu had already made him look bad and would have been a big favourite. Quartey I feel would cop a beating as Tszyu would have been stronger than at jWW but it could have been close, we are speculatin after all.... Trinidad ??? now here is a wall if ever ther was for Kostya, to beat Trinidad Kostya would have had to be on fire the moment the bell rang, I see a trilogy here, maybe a fivology lol. There is also ODLH and here is another possible trilogy, Oscar had been in awe of Kostya years before when an amateur and spoke highly of Tszyu but Oscar would have stepped in the ring against him, I think Tszyu beats him but also see the public clamouring for a rematch, maybe Oscar wins on points there and we get a third. Mosley is a problem for Kostya because by the time Mosley hits his peak its just a few years after Kostya has done so and by this time Kostya will have been in some big wars and facing a young lion like Mosley who had so many skills and speed and power may have been a shock for Tszyu, its all about timing... or age to be precise, remember it was all the wars that took the edge off Mosley and in a relatively short time....... There is also Mayorga..... I don't wanna go there, a Tszyu/Mayorga fight is a bloodbath unless Kostya turns slick boxer for this one and he certainly had enormous boxing ability, it was Lewis than made Kostya into a KO machine but Lewis always could read opponents very well, for this one he trains his fighter to become slick boxer and to frustrate Mayorga, if he does this then when the later rounds come around Kostya will pick the right time to plant his feet and knock his man out. All these battles will take a lot out of Kostya and we will get a slightly earlier retirement, somewhere along the line he loses that belt.
Fair play to ESB. It is always an education to visit. I simply did NOT know that Shane Mosley, and Oscar fought each other at 140. EDIT. My humble apologies. I did not see the comma. I mistakenly read it as Mosley fought Oscar at 140. That said I don't think it was just coincidence that some guys bypassed 140, or stopped there very briefly. K.T. always carried the equaliser in either hand, and, at any given time in a fight. Not to be taken lightly.
No offense taken. Mistakes happen. It wouldn't surprise me if a number of men looked at Tszyu, not necessarily with fear, but with the notion that it wasn't worth the risk. It's really too bad because some of these fights would have been well worth a watch. Tszyu-De La Hoya was a big miss.
I appreciate the input and I can't blame your praise. Tszyu as an amateur had it all, though I think he fell a little in love with his power as a pro and that hindered him a bit. He still became one of the greatest 140-pounders of all-time, which isn't so bad a thing to accomplish. Personally, I could see Tszyu beating the likes of Mayorga, Coggi, Chavez (even one closer to his prime), Carr, Quartey, Forrest, Spinks (especially Spinks), and quite possibly Mosley. However, no matter how good Tszyu was against southpaws, I think Whitaker beats him. I would probably favor DLH, as well. Trinidad is a toss-up. I do think there could have been a point in which Mayweather could have moved a bit sooner to secure a fight with Tszyu, but I don't see it as either man's fault.
He probably would have never won a title. He seemed too small for 147 lbs and too big for 135. He looked to be comfortable at 140 lbs.
