If Kostya Had A Different Trainer.....

So you needed to include 2 losses and claim they were robberies to make it look better huh? :yep

 

He wasn't afraid to go all the way up and challenge Hopkins, but he's afraid of Kosta?

 

Woah relax there sailor. I agree this guy has no clue what he's talkin about but DLH??? Chicken ****?atsch

 

Wasnt it suppose to happen after the Phillips fight??

 

Going into the first fight nobody was calling Chavez over-the-hill it wasn't until after DLH destroyed him. I was not trying to make DLH look better, Iwas just stating my opinion on how he did against the best fighters of his era. World titles in 6 classes doesn't need my help.

 

Yup. Tszyu his blew his opportunity.

Tszyu coulda given DLH a tough fight at 140, but I dont see how he actually WINS!

I hate DLH with a passion, but Oscar was awesome at 140 and woulda beaten Tszyu.

 

Especially when one of them was via robbery win over Sturm :hey

 

The constant reminder that tells you all you need to know about Kostya Tszyu is the respect other fighters (not keyboard experts) had for him.

I've heard Mosely, RJJ, DLH ... and even Mayweather all say Tszyu was an amazing fighter and amazing talent. They all watched him from his amateur days.

Teddy Atlas and Chris Byrd both stated he was the best amateur boxer they had ever seen. How many great fighters say the same thing about another fighter? Not many.

His loss to Phillips derailed the hype building towards a DLH bout .. and Kostya had no one to blame but himself for that loss. I think it showed his obsession with power punching occassionally got in the way of his talent, especially as his own corner told him to stop going for the KO and box to victory which he didn't listen to.

Someone mentioned his chin was shakey ... actually I thought he has shown across his career an amazing ability to take big punches to deliver his own. One on the feet stoppage from which he walked out of ring is like saying Castillo, Barrera and Pacquiao have weakness ... all being stopped across their careers worse than Tszyu. The guy had a solid beard and great recovery powers.

I agree his resume doesn't have the one big name to really put out the negatives that come up in conversations like this ... but it was his best performances like Gonzales, Rodriguez, Judah and even Mitchell 2 (mitchell hadn't been put on the canvas in eleven years) that showed what he was capable of when focused and in form.

I disregard the Hatton fight, it showed us an old fighter and if you start judging fighters by their final fights before retirement, alot of HOFs will fall from grace very rapidly.

In regards to the actual thread ... yes, I've also thought Tszyu would have benefited from retaining the head movement and speed of his amateur days. He showed glimpses of it in fights like the Rodriguez match ... but it disappeared quite rapidly. Lewis is a good trainer and great conditioning coach ... but subtlety and technical boxing isn't his strong suit. That said, his advice during fights is nearly always correct and he is very under-rated. Had Tszyu listened to him more in his two losses ... he may be undefeated.

 

Olympic silver medalist
2 X World Amateur Championship bronze medalist
European amateur champion and silver medalist
28-0

 

Tszyu was forced to fight Chavez by the way ... the WBC threatened to strip him of his belt otherwise. He publicly said he didn't desire the fight.

Fights with DLH and Mayweather were both considered but HBO and Showtime couldn't reach agreements. Corey Spinks was almost signed as well. Any one of these fights would have given Tszyu the final big name most people think he needed to put the exclamation mark on his career.

Kostya fought the best available fighters he could. If it were as easy as saying a name and signing on the dotted line ... we'd see better fights all the time.

 

Tszyu unified the division and was the champ for a while. You don't do that by ducking anyone. On the other hand I recall Mayweather saying he wouldn't fight Tszyu unless Tszyu was as old as his uncle when they fought. It was Mayweather who didn't want to fight him.

To answer the thread: yeah, I don't think Lewis was the best coach out there at the time.

 

I still stand by what I said and that is he can't be considered a great fighter because he never stepped into the ring against the best of his time. All the power and talent in the world means nothing if you (safely) stay on the porch while all the big dogs duke it out. I find it funny how DLH gets blamed for this fight never taking place and on the flipside he takes on every single guy worth mentioning from that era, which by the way Kosta by some strange reason couldn't even get in the ring with one. Oh yeah I forgot he did fight Chavez, I stand corrected.

 

Risk vs Reward .. Plus kosta lost at the very worst time... Although I think this made him a better fighter.. thats pretty much my take .. Even worse risk vs reward after he got beat by phillips would DLH take that risk with no reward .. beats him that's a guy who got beat by phillips loses .. and its the dude who just lost .. beat DHL ... just business..

 

lol I've NEVER seen anyone blame DLH for not fighting KT. The fight was going to happen, it was KT who blew it. Oscar would have fought him. He might not have beaten Kostya, but I'm damn sure he would have fought him as long as the money's right.

Another significant factor in KT's career that I don't see mentioned too often for some reason is the long layoffs he had to endure due to injuries. In the latter stage of his career it was difficult for him to get in good enough shape to fight without hurting himself, he had some pretty serious and persistent physical problems.

 

if i had one inch more..wah! wah! wah!