Kostya Tszyu

i think he was a bit intimidated by the crowd.
in fact the crowd was the biggest factor in the fight. they cheered every punch ricky threw (landed or not) and pushed ricky through all the tough spots. Even still i had kostya behind by only a point going into the 12th.
If that fight was in australia with a neutral ref kostya would have won but it still would have been a tough fight.

 

What he said.

 

Tszyu fought three rounds in two and a half years leading into the Hatton fight. That's how close to his best he was.

Compare that level of activity to what Hatton had over the same period.

Tszyu had to get it done inside of 8 rounds to get the win. Given his inactivity leading in, he was never going to come home over the top of Hatton & ultimately didn't.

Prime v prime? Tszyu by early kayo. He was a very heavy and accurate puncher. Hatton's biggest weakness is his poor defence & susceptibility to getting hit flush.

Prime Tszyu has too many skills & too much power for Hatton.

 

That's because if you diminish the value of Hatton's win over Tszyu it casts a pall over the significance of his overall career accomplishments.

 

I was at the fight and Hatton would have won all night long. Yes, he deliberately punched Tszyu in the balls but only after a tiring Tszyu had caught him below the belt. It was a clever move by Hatton - he was the underdog going into the fight but he was letting Tszyu know he wasn't giving any quarter.

An Aussie journalist asked Hatton about the low blow afterwards and if he thought it had had an effect of the fight. His response was: "I f.....n' hope so, it's not a tickling conest in there."

The atmosphere was also one of the most hyped I've seen - the doors shut at 11pm I think, with most of the crowd tanked up, yet the fight started abut 1.30-2am. There were a few Aussie fans in yellow but they were slaughtered verbally and you could sense this was one of those nights when the home fighter would win.

Dave Parris didn't have a great night but Hatton swarmed over Tszyu for most of the night and the low blow was an incidental factor in the result, imo. Tszyu was past his best and he was catching a younger fighter at his pek with a football-style crowd behind him.

A special night regardless of which boxers you follow.

 

When I watch the fight on mute,hatton doesn't seem as effective,the crowd I believe played a major role in effecting the ref,judges and even jonny lewis.JMO

 

edit....nevermind.

 

Not at all but what it does is say it anyone in the MEN Arena that night had a feel for the atmosphere and see how the hyped up the fans were, which helped influence the outcome. It also allowed me to hear Hatton's response to the question re: the low blow.

 

Like i said the other week on this board , Hatton that night was NEVER going to lose to Kostya regardless of what many want to pass off as a "Home Town stiff job " and for Sandman to say if you take this win away there is a "pall" cast over his career is a ridiculous comment , Hatton won that title he gained by beating Tszyu and defended it before crossing the pond to DEFEAT LC at Full Welterweight , Hatton has some decent wins in his career and only got beaten by the TWO by far P4P best champions walking the earth today , Hatton had a fantastic career what ever way you look at it with or without the including the KT win being considered .

 

AGREED.winning like that against KT and only losses being to P4P no.1's.Hatton was a very good fighter.

 

I ****in hate the line "Hatton only got beaten by 2 of the best fighters of the last 25 yrs". Getting absolutely ****ed up is NOT an achievement in itself. Please stop with that line.

If you want to talk Hatton up and your a fan then talk about his good wins etc etc.

 

It wasn't just the low blow Parris allowed Hatton to get away with, it was the punch and hold tactic that he let Hatton use all fight.

See the first time he wasn't allowed to use that tactic and he was KTFO by Mayweather. It was ridiculous how he clung on to Tszyu like that, and it played a major part in the outcome of the fight.

Apart from that, Tszyu's lowblows were bordeline on the belt - I watched many replays of the 2 incidents in question - and Tszyu was warned by Parris, yet when Hatton wound up and deliberately punched Tszyu below the belt, Parris didn't warn Hatton and instead ruled it as accidental. That pretty much told anyone who isn't a Hatton fan that the ref was in Hatton's pocket, if there was any doubt after all the clinching up until that point.

 

Also a shoulder and Achilles tendon operation in that time did not help!

 

Does anyone have any info regarding what has happened to Kostya's website? I haven't been able to access it for a few weeks.