Greater/Better: Tszyu or Hamed

Kostya Tyszu for me. He just had higher quality wins.

 

Tyszu for me. He was a beast of an amateur on an international level before going pro and had one hell of a run at 140 before he got old and run over by a young buzzsaw named Hatton.

Hamed was an incredibly gifted athlete that had some very strong wins but he had some technical limitations that were exposed by Marco. No doubt he was a special talent but I will always prefer a hard hitting technician like Tszyu over a guy like Hamed who really relied on speed and reflexes.

 

Judah was quick and powerful like Naz, KZ fought at a higher level, Naz got exposed by Barrera.

 

Tszyu in his prime got beaten up and stopped by Vince Phillips which is alot worse than losing a decision to an ATG like Barrera.

 

Yes but following that loss, Tszyu learned from his mistakes and got a lot better and went on to win a lot of big fights. Hamed lost, fought once more, and retired.

 

I'm not comparing Phillips to Barrera but anyone that knows about the US boxing program will tell you how good Phillips was when he was younger. He won several national tournaments back when the program was loaded with great fighters. It's pretty common knowledge that Vince had a serious substance abuse problem that derailed his pro career but with that said, had only three losses on his record when he beat an overconfident Tszyu. He got stopped on a bad cut by Anthoney Jones, and stupidity tried to move to 147 against Ike Quartey who destroyed him. His other loss was a disputed SD loss against Ellis who was an Olympic bronze medalist so please don't act like he was some scrub. Most of those later losses was when he was shot and addicted to coke. Vince Phillips was a very good fighter.

All that said, Tszyu has himself to blame for that loss but it shouldn't really take away from his later greatness. He beat some really difficult guys and a variety of styles.

 

I'm not saying Phillips is a bad fighter but it is a bad loss on Tszyu's resume in the manner in which he lost and the fact he was in his prime.

Honestly I'm not as high on Tszyu as some people I don't think his resume is all that personally.

 

He one of those guys that you need to dig into a little to see his greatness. He beat a lot of guys that were avoided fighters because of how difficult they were stylistically. Most will see Julio Cesear Chavez on his record and find that impressive but I don't because Julio was old and shot at the time they fought. I think it was far more impressive that he fought and beat a Shambra Mitchell who was on a hell of a run at the time and no one named Oscar or any other top guys would go near Mitchell because of his difficult style. Same with Ben Tackie who at that time was a buzz saw of a fighter that threw 100 punches a round and was running over guys. Urkal is another guy that folks didn't want any part of but Tszyu went right at him. Tszyu was damn good.

 

Tszyu was better IMO.

In terms of actual achievement, they're probably fairly comparable, but I think the Judah win is the biggest of either fighter's career & gives Tszyu the edge there as well.

 

Hamed was a punk and a clown. Tszyu was a real boxer.

 

I've seen all of Tszyu's fights I rate him as very good but I think he's a step below fighters like ODLH who was around in his era.

The pros for Tszyu is he had very good power, stand out right hand, good timing, and good boxing skills.

The negatives for Tszyu is his defense was very suspect, he stood too straight up, and I don't think he can adapt in a fight when the chips are down. Phillips took Tszyu's power walked right through him and Tszyu had no answer for it.

As for the fighters you mentioned Sharmba Mitchell was a good slick fighter but not elite I'd class him as similar to Cory Spinks but not as good because he doesn't have wins over the likes of Mayorga, Judah, plus he wasn't as durable and that was quite a weakness for Mitchell.

I don't rate the Chavez win at all and you agree with that so I'm not going to say anymore on that.

I don't think Ben Tackie is that good honestly his stand out attribute was he was extremely durable but apart from that he was a limited fighter.

Okay Urkal was a solid win but again he's a B class opponent.

As I said I'm not blown away by Tszyu like some people are for me he's very good/low tier great but I think he's a step below some of the more prominent fighters around his era. For example I don't see Tszyu beating the likes of Mosley, ODLH, and if Tszyu stepped up to Welterweight he would lose to the likes of Trinidad, Quartey.

Despite all of the above i do rate Tszyu higher than Hamed though which is what we can agree on even if i don't rate Tszyu quite as a highly as you do.

 

You will not find a soul on this Earth who rates Hamed higher.

 

How is it a bad loss? Phillips was genuinely an awesome fighter who figured Tszyu out in a bloody affair, it doesn’t mean much other then what it is, it isn’t an “exposed” fighter (you didn’t say that but others do) or even a stylistic weakness Phillips fought his a$$ off and won, it just happens and happened a lot more back when there were more fights so it sticks out with Tszyu.

 

I wouldn't pick him over full fledged big WW's like Tito or Ike and I would favor Oscar and Shane over him but I wouldn't count him out against those two specifically. With Tszyu being having a long term contract with Showtime and Shane and Oscar being HBO fighter's, those matches were difficult too make in those days but I do know both Oscar and Shane would have taken him very seriously as they both watched Tszyu smash Vernon Forrest at the world's in 91' and Forrest was another standout from the US team that was a stylistic nightmare to fight. Just ask Shane.

It's fair enough if you don't put him in the same class as those guys. Tszyu did fall of in his 30's pretty dramatically and there is a part of me that is really disappointed in him quiting on his stool against Hatton. He was going to loose that fight and was clearly exhausted but going out like that was very disappointing.

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