Correct me if i'm wrong but I believe them fighting on different networks is what prevented this fight from happening. But in their primes who wins?
I could be wrong but I don't ever remember it being seriously discussed as a matchup. I suppose if Tszyu had beaten Hatton then it would have been an obvious matchup to make as Mayweather was beating Gatti for the WBC jnr welter title at the same time as Hatton and Tszyu met for the IBF version.
Tszyu potentially missed out on the two biggest paydays of his career - De La Hoya in '97 and Mayweather in '05 - due to ill-timed defeats against Phillips and Hatton... and they were the only losses of his career as well. Shame we never got to see either of those fights. Back in 2005, this would still have been a highly competitive matchup. Tszyu could seriously bang and I think he'd find Mayweather's chin at some point. The question is would Mayweather have been able to ride it out if he got hurt? The obvious prediction is Mayweather by clear decision but I can also see a scenario where Tszyu stops him. But I'll go with Mayweather on points here.
Floyd on points. Speed is what Tszyu had but Floyd was even faster and stayed out of the range of punches for the most part. He might get stunned by Tszyu but Floyd would win a close decision
Prime for prime I think Tszyu has the right style to cause Floyd more problems than vise versa. Tszyu by decision or maybe be stops or adleast drops him late.
I am not much of a Floyd fan. But, he was significantly better than guys like Sharmba Mitchell. As quick and hard punching as Tszyu was, he was pretty predictable. And Floyd is not afraid to stink the joint out winning a decision with very little action. If Tszyu caught Floyd like he caught Judah (amongst many others) he may be able to stop Floyd. But, the smart money would be on Floyd UD.
Tszyu has no chance of beating Floyd prime-for-prime. The man is overrated. I'll go as far as say that the Floyd of 04-05 would probably stop a tiring Tszyu late. Either that, or Floyd wins a commanding decision.
It's an interesting match-up and not one I would automatically consider a shoo-in for Floyd. Style-wise, I think Tszyu presents a bigger challenge than either Castillo or Maidana did. Tszyu was Unorthodox; heavy handed; mixed his punches up and delivered fast attacks. Also - had Tszyu got the win over Hatton, I doubt Floyd would have taken another bout at 140, after Gatti, anyway. He was headed to 147, either way.
