I'm looking into Kostya Tszyu, just curious on the forums opinions - how good was he, H2H, P4P in the history of the division? Was he a hype job? The real deal? What were his flaws and weaknesses? His best performances? He looks like a legitimately nice dude.
He was some what the real deal though shrewd matchmaking inflates his standing a bit. Showed in the Roger Mayweather fight he was vulnerable to straight rights. Mayweather was too far gone to do much else and Tszyu won a pretty wide UD. His overall competition in his first (IBF) reign was pretty poor. Chavez, Randall and Coggi were all better than him at that point. Vince Phillips took him head on and in a close fight, rendered him helpless with a series of straight rights to stop him in the 10th round and annex the IBF title. From that point on , Kostya's management did a gret job of maneuvering him back into contention. He beat some decent guys in fading former champions Miguel Gonzales, Rafael Ruelas and tough contender Hurtato. Two wins over soft chinned, but speedy Sharmba Mitchell, and a stoppage of the grossly faded Julio Ceasar Chavez in 2000. The stoppage of Judah was his best win, in my opinion. Judah was very highly though of at the time. The loss to Hatton occurred when he was past his best and he retired at the right time. His strengths were: physically strong, good workrate, good power, good right hand. His weaknesses were porous defense and the tendency to stand too straight up. He was a very good fighter and good champion. He has some good names on his record, but other than Judah, former champs he beat: Gonzales, Ruelas, and especially Chavez, were all past their best when he fought them. Great career but peak for peak I think Chavez, Randall, possibly Rosario, possibly Coggi could beat him. Whitaker for sure. Roger Mayweather would have a good shot peak for peak because of his very good right hand, a punch Kostya was very vulnerable to.
He should've won against Hatton, Hatton was down for more than 10 seconds, but the referee rules it a low blow ( & anyone who saw the fight could see it wasn't ). And that was when he was past his best. He also beat a prime motivated ( ? ) Judah.
Randall? You think Randall would have beat Tszyu? Whitaker and Chavez possibly, Aaron Pryor probably. Tszyu is the reason Shane Mosely went from lightweight straight to welterweight.
No way Coggi beats him, but I could see Randall beating him. Randall had more overall skills and could handle a strong pressure fighter like Tsyzu.
yes, Peak Randall was very strong, with a lethal straight right hand and good boxing ability. I think he could stop Kostya. 1994 Chavez was probably better than anyone Kostya beat.
H-2-H, I think Tszyu rates very highly at 140, though his resume puts him a little further back. Lots of good names at 140 when you examine closely. Honestly, I thought Tszyu had the potential to be greater than he turned out to be. Watching him outbox Forrest was a thing of beauty, but he seemed to fall in love with his power as a pro and had a tendency to admire his work. In my opinion, he left something behind. I also think history was unkind to Tszyu, as he never got the chance to prove his worth against De La Hoya, Mosley, or Mayweather. He may have not won any of them, but I think many of us would have loved to seen them come off. Against the best men at 140, I think Tszyu may have performed well. I think his strength, speed, power, and precision match-up well against Chavez's skill-set. I believe he could take Cervantes, gets outboxed by Whitaker, edges Randall, beats up Coggi, and likely gets stopped late by Pryor, though I would love to see how Pryor reacts to a right hand from Tszyu.
Very good fighter, but a let down as a pro.Fell in love with being a powerpunching stalker-and he was very good at it- when really he already had the skillset as an amatuer to develop into a more interesting complete boxer-puncher.He wasn't a strong, durable or mentally determined enough(despite being very calm) fighter to be great in that stalking role.The way he was outfought by cool Vince right in his prime should highlight that. As much as i dislike Mosley and find him overrated overall, i really don't think he avoided Tszyu to face Oscar.If he did, he was foolish as he had an ideal style to back Tszyu up, outland him and eventually cave his face in.
He was one of the better amateurs I think I've seen. He really had it all and interestingly a remember a few bouts in the am's where the commentators said he was just about complete, except he wasn't a big puncher. I reckon he turned pro in near his peak and gradually regressed after that. I might be paraphrasing what other posters have stated in the past there but I essentially agree with it. I think hard, disciplined training and a slight shift tactically post Phillips kept him relevant for longer than he should have been..plus not a very high level of opposition.
Great fighter.beat a lot of good fighters convincingly which is enough to make him easily deserving of his hall of fame induction.i thought shamba Mitchell hit him clean a fair few times in their first fight.but kostya started pounding him as the fight progressed.i agree with him 'once you come to the ring to fight no excuse'.mitchell said he wasn't disappointed after the rematch.maybe he was just relieved that he got out of there alive.i have seen it before too when fighters have an excuse they lose worse in the rematch. Best performances Mitchell 2 Gonzalez Judah Rodriguez Hurtado
