Pryor is a style nightmare for Tszyu. Kostya liked to fight at a measured pace, and was at his best vs technical boxers who gave him room to operate and get off his power shots. Pryor's herky jerky attacking style, coupled with his strength and quickness would totally throw Tszyu off in my mind, and eventually overwhelm him. Pryor TKO 10.
For me Pryor=stamina. The only question is was it legit? The bottle incident and that the 70s and 80s were notorious for doping makes me wonder...
As far as I'm concerned, the Pryor-Arguello rematch went a long way to answering that. Yes, Alexis was pass his best, and had regressed from slipping and countering to getting hit first and then countering, but he was still a superb performer who would have taken the WBC JWW Title (and subsequently did stop Billy Costello to prove it). The Hawk would be too much for Tszyu to cope with.
Costello was battered by Smith and ultimately knocked out cold several months before his fight with Arguello. He was done as boxer. Arguello was never proven at the weight; he never beat a TOP10 rated JWW. There was a thread about Arguello vs Tszyu at 140 and most picked Arguello to win and by TKO . An unproven 140 pounder who had trouble with diminutive lightweights vs. a JWW champion for a decade. If I had to pick a version of Tszyu to beat Pryor it would be the 1998-1999 ferocious, relentless Tszyu.
Not sure, I'd favor Pryor but the Phillips fight isn't exactly representative of a prime, 100% Tszyu. He was supposedly starving himself, having weight and serious managerial issues in the time leading up to the fight. A case could be made that a Tszyu was never beaten while on his a-game.
Phillips was one hell of a fighter esp. at 140. Even as a 37 year old at 147 he gave a prime Vernon Forrest fits. The size disparity was ridiculous and yet it was Phillips who chased Forrest across the ring. He did much better than No1 P4P prime Mosley. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq0lqfc6dAc[/ame]
Kostya is a bit of a mystery, never fought oscar, shane or floyd. Not necessarily his fault, but in head to head matchups he will remain a mystery.
Phillips was also the only fighter to ever stop the ultra tough Mickey Ward, and was also on the wrong end of some decisions against very good fighters. Not too bad, to say the least.