Greater fighter: Kostya Tszyu or Donald Curry

Hi Noel.
I worked in Smithfield in the late 60s and early 70s, I was in my element, lots of ex boxers fell into the job after their career had ended, the likes of, Ron Barton, Freddie King, Alby Day, Tommy McGovern, Billy Walker, Stan Davies, and many more, a friend of mine who worked in my shop, Billy Cassidy, fought as an amatuer, he had like 115 fights, fought good quality opposition, Terry Waller, Dave Green, etc, but the hardest, toughest he ever fought was Jones, he said every punch that landed hurt, and he said " hurt " his jab was like another fighters right cross, the body punching left welts and bruises for days, in his opinion Jones would have beaten Green, and by stoppage, yep one tough dude.
stay safe Noel, chat soon buddy.
Mike.

 

Hi Mike
That is a very interesting comment by your friend. If the very talented Kirkland Laing was still around i am sure he would be in agreement

 

Donald Curry

9 world title wins Welterweight, Jr Middleweight.

Best wins....

Marlon Starling x2
Milton McCrory
Colin Jones
Carlos Santos
Gianfranco Rosi
Lupe Aquino
Nino La Rocca
Elio Diaz
Roger Stafford

Wins over top 10 ranked opposition = 9

Kostya Tszyu

14 world title wins at Jr Welterweight.

Best wins....

Zab Judah
Julio Cesar Chavez
Sharmba Mitchell x2
Miiguel Angel Gonzalez
Rafael Ruelas
Oktay Urkal
Miguel Angel Gonzalez
Roger Mayweather
Sammy Fuentas
Rafael Ruelas
Livingstone Bramble
Disobelys Hurtado
Juan LaPorte
Calvin Grove
Jake Rodriguez

Wins over top 10 ranked opposition = 9.

Ok somethings to point out for both fighters.

I believe Curry has the best single win i rate Starling above Judah i think Starling is a better H2H fighter but that's just my opinion.

Tszyu has better names overall on paper but some context is needed for some of these names. For example Chavez was way past his best when Tszyu fought him in 2000, this is nowhere near the Chavez of late 80s or early 90s which makes a big difference.

But i do give Tszyu credit for fighting notable fighters very early in his professional career even if alot of those names were past their best.

Tszyu has more world title wins than Curry but they're equal on wins against top 10 rated fighters also Curry did win world titles at 2 different weightclasses.

Both fighters had shocking defeats in their primes to Phillips & Honeyghan respectively. Curry was much higher rated than Tszyu at the time, but Tszyu in fairness i think regained better from his upset loss than Curry did.

I think you can look at this a few different ways.

Curry had a higher peak and was more highly regarded at his best.

But Tszyu has a bit more filler to his resume and has longevity on his side.

 

Donald Curry without a doubt

 

Curry was as pleasing on the eye than any boxer that’s ever lived. I remember watching his masterclass over Colin Jones on ITV, live.
Jones drew with McCrory and knocked out Kirkland Laing in 2 fights, both times in the 9th round. Bear in mind Laing gave Roberto Duran a boxing lesson, when out pointing him in the USA.
Just a shame Curry drained himself down to welter, rather than moving up earlier.

 

Starling X 2
Nino Larocca
Milton Mccroy
Colin Jones