"Aaron Pryor of '82 vs. Kostya Tszyu of 2000" at 140... Who Dah Man?

I am the biggest Tszyu fan, but Pryor is a scary matchup for Kostya.

I would have to pick Pryor

 

My first instinct is Pryor based on the styles matchup, but Tszyu hit harder than anyone Pryor fought and had exceptional timing....However, I still can't get over that smothering styles with durability gave Kostya the most problems in his career. I think I'd still favor Pryor in this one. Kostya is a nightmare for pure boxers, but Pryor would be his kryptonite.

 

It would be a superb fight. Big fan of both.

But its Hawk Time

 

Bill, you been on a bender? ;-) This one been done pretty recently. Maybe that explains the inactivity because it is an intruiging matchup.

For me, Tszyu is a bit underrated. I think he puts Pryor on the floor once, maybe twice. But Pryor would keep coming from all those crazy angles and I think he gets to Tszyu and wears him down and stops Tszyu late.

 

When I started reading this thread I was going to answer Pryor, but then I started thinking that K.T. throws much straighter punches and could over over the course of the fight, start to time Pryor with one of his wicked right hands..so I too am going to with K.T. but both have the type of styles to give each other problems, so it's a hard fight to pick. And if it unfolded as I said, Pryor would likely be leading on the cards at the time of the stoppage..he's too busy not be. One other point is I haven't seen either fight is probably a decade or so, but if I recall correctly, Pryor's defensive as essentially his offense..meaning I don't think he'd be all that hard to hit if something was coming back at him, and even though he had a solid chin, getting hit by K.T. is a whole different animal than getting hit by Arguello, who's naturally was a lightweight.

 

I know I picked Pryor, but if Tszyu gets him knocked down twice I think Kostya's too good a finisher not to finish the job, even on Aaron.

 

Pryor UD. His aggression will gradually break KT down.

 

pryor would have no trouble at all with kostya,middle rounds knockout :think

 

I beleive Tszyu to be one of the most overrated, albeit skillfully managed and manuevered champions. He made a name by beating aging former champions such as Juan Laporte and LIvingstone Bramble. After he won the IBF title against Jake Rodriguez, he ate plenty of right hands in his first defense against a very over the hill Roger Mayeweather. This inability to defend against good right hands would catch up to him when the good, solid, but not great Vince Phillips ko'd him in 1997 to lift the title. Kostya waited for Vince to lose the title, instead of fighting a rematch, then regained a portion of the junior welterweight title by beating Miguel Angel Gonzalez, a fighter who had been very good in the early to mid 90's but was on the decline in 1999. After that, Kostya's beat a totally shot Julio Cesar Chavez in 2000, an admittadly good ko of Zab Judah, and twice beat the soft chinned Sharmba Mitchell, before being battered by Ricky Hatton. He had two reighns, and a lot of title defenses. But, closely look at his quality of opposition of the people he beat AT THE TIME HE FOUGHT THEM. I think Pryor would ko Kostya in the late rounds with a non-stop attack. Both fighters lacked defense and could be hurt, so alot of leather would land on both. Remember, also, that Pryor survived the straight and pinpoint right hands of Alexis Arguello. Kostya was not in Arguello's class.

 

Nice post.