Kostya Tszyu 1996

What is Tsyzus best win Zab Judah? I think he is overated a bit in fantasy fights, but his record kind of speaks for itself in my opinion. He was a very strong fighter at 140 which compensated for some of his shortcomings, but a good overall technical fighter with a limited arsenal.

 

Kostya Tszyu has a really cool sounding name, and also sported that lil pony tail, that made him look like Jet Li in Lethal Weapon 4, a total badass. They were my thoughts watching him as a kid anyway.

He's just one of those guys though, that you see and arent greatly impressed with him technically in terms of ATG, then BOOM you're KTFO because you got laxidasical with an accurate nuclearwarhand southpaw

 

He wasnt a southpaw

 

There's a small, but very vocal minority that severely overrates Tszyu... and a small, but very vocal minority that hates him for it and severly underrates him. A fairly common phenomena amongst fight fans, but mostly, he's a respected talent who had some pretty good wins, but he simply didn't fight enough when he was the king at 140 to cement his status as more than just the ruler of a good but not great division. Somewhat along the lines of what happened to Hopkins after Toney and Jones Jr. left for SMW.

The lingering effects of going out on his stool I think is held against him, though.

 

I always thought that Tszyu gets a raw deal on here to be honest. I really liked him in his prime. I don't get carried away though.

 

A road warrior & did everything the hard way. And he was put in deep real early in his career & was taking on tough hombres right off the bat. Probably lasted as long as anyone at the top with that elbows out style.

 

A little burn out, but the issue between some injuries and not being able to find a big money fight sort of wore on him. His relationship with his management team was also an issue. He never struck me as a guy who fought out of a need to compete, so much as that was his means by way of making a future for himself.

 

Anyone remember the piece they did during one of his fights where his three year old son broke his fathers jaw with a leftthook?

 

I have never heard that before.

His son Timmothy is a pretty good amateur, about 16 years old.

 

Hard to overrate a guy in a division as weak as 140 has been, he's a ATG by the relative standards of his division any way you want to cut it.

 

The division has had some fine fighters though. I get what you're saying i think though, that most eras have not been too strong and that such fine fighters have had a difficult time building up a great resume.

Still to me, Cervantes, Pryor, Locche, Ortiz, Loi, Perkins, Tszyu, Canzoneri, Chavez, Whitaker, even De La Hoya are all at the great level of effectiveness at this weight.