Kostya Tsyzu vs Terrence Crawford

Tszyu was almost 36 y/0 when he fought Hatton, had been boxing for 25 years, had an extremely extensive amateur career, and had only fought once in 2.5 years and only twice in 3. The reason for his inactivity was because his body was falling apart on him and he'd suffered two serious injuries that he had to undergo surgery for.

'Billy Graham has flown to Arizona to plot Ricky Hatton's 2005 bid for world title glory.

The Hitman's trainer will be ringside at tonight's IBF title showdown between Kostya Tszyu and Sharmba Mitchell in the Glendale Arena in Phoenix - as the winner is due to face Hatton early next year.


Hatton also wanted to be there, but is in training for a tune-up fight against Ray Oliveira at London's ExCel Arena on December 11.

By beating Mike Stewart in a final eliminator last month, Hatton became mandatory challenger for the IBF belt, and Graham believes his man is ready and able to beat either Sydney-based Russian ace Tszyu or slick Yank Mitchell.

"I don't know whether the winner will give up the title rather than face Ricky, but that is the only way they can get out of it," says Graham.


"I feel I should be at ringside - I know both fighters' styles pretty well because I have watched them both on TV and from ringside for years, but there are things you can see from ringside that you can't from your armchair.


"I have seen a lot of good light-welterweights down the years and can judge punching power, and I also want to see whether Tszyu has slipped in any way."

'Tszyu was the undisputed world champion, but he last defended his IBF, WBA and WBC titles in January, 2003, when he forced James Leija to retire with a burst eardrum.

Since then he has suffered two career-threatening injuries, a shoulder problem which required an operation, and an Achilles tendon rupture.

Tonight's clash with Mitchell will be the acid test for the "Thunder from Down Under", who was regularly in the experts' top five pound for pound fighters until his bad luck with injuries.


Tszyu is now 35, and many doubt whether he can regain the awesome power and canny boxing skills that took him to the top of the ten-stone division - he beat Mitchell when they first met in 2001, the American retiring with a knee injury in the seventh round.

Mitchell is three years younger and has had five good fights during Tszyu's enforced absence, including a points win over latest Hatton victim Mike Stewart at the Manchester Evening News Arena in April.

Says Graham: "Up until 18 months ago, I would have taken Tszyu to beat Mitchell again. He has beaten him once before.

"But I can't give an honest opinion because no-one really knows what Tszyu will be like - if he can recapture his form, I take him to win again."

This interview is from November, 2004, 7 months before the Hatton fight'


'Kostya Tszyu has confirmed he was suffering terrible pain from a badly damaged rib when he beat Sharmba Mitchell in their IBF junior welterweight boxing match on Sunday.
Tszyu, speaking on Channel Seven this morning, said he'd carried a rib injury into the fight.

"The doctors said to me I was not going to do any more damage to it - that I had just had to deal with it," Tszyu said.

"It was so painful."

When Tszyu first sustained the injury three weeks ago he said "I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move".

His trainer Johnny Lewis told Sydney's The Daily Telegraph: "Not only was his performance against Sharmba one of brilliant boxing but until now no one really knows about the extraordinary bravery he showed just to go through with the fight."

At the time of the injury, Lewis feared Tszyu had reached the end of his career.

The world champion was 35 and had already been forced out of two meetings with Mitchell because of serious injuries requiring surgery. A third postponement after 22 months in boxing's casualty ward would surely have been the death knell to his days as champion.

"Maybe it's time to call it quits, maybe someone is trying to tell us the glory days are gone," Lewis said at the time.

Lewis and Tszyu kept the injury quiet from all but their closest confidants, even telling the sparring partners that Tszyu had to stop training because of a stomach upset.'

So once again Tszyu who was 3 months shy of his 36th birthday at the time took to the road to defend his world title in his opponent's backyard against the young, hungry, savage body punching and highly regarded 38-0 (30KOs) Ricky Hatton (26 y/o) in the lion's den of Manchester Arena. The vast majority of world champions don't do these kind of things, let alone at that age and stage of their careers after only having fought once in 2.5 years after suffering a brace of career threatening injuries both of which he had to undergo surgery on.

The Hatton fight was an extremely gruelling affair and Tszyu had only seen 3 rounds of action during that 2.5 year period prior to it. Had Tsyzu been in his prime, his body not been failing apart on him, and not been giving away 9 years in youth to Hatton, I'm sure he would've fared a lot better, even over in the lion's den of Hatton's backyard where everything was stacked against him.

Vicious KO after KO

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