Kostya Tszyu

Not in my opinion.

Very good fighter with a weak resume and some glaring stylistic flaws.

He really didn't do any more than fighters like Nigel Benn who few consider great.

 

I thought that towards the end of his title-reign he was very close to establishing himself as one of the great 140pounders. The Judah win, the second Mitchell win (when Mitchell was maybe in the form of his career), the Ben Tackie masterclass, he fought the best and correct contenders that he should have and dominated the division thoroughly between the Phillips and Hatton fights.

For the record, i thought he won the first 5 rounds against Ricky, but then lost the next 6, he shouldnt have quiit imo.

 

Can't say that I like him, more like the opposite, but I'd be a fool not to admit he is all-time Top3 at 140lb head to head. Many consider Bob Foster one of the best light-heavyweights head to head, although his resume is not any better than Tszyu's.

 

Well, if you want to draw ultimately pointless comparisons, then Tszyu is more like his countryman Arbachakov... minus the hand and footspeed(relative to weightclass) and with all the finesse sucked right out of him.

 

He was dominant though in between them 2 losses, it must be agreed on. Dominance is a great thing even in a weak era, and i think some are quick to forget how good the 140-pound division was a few years ago.

 

What, getting offended when totally meaningless resume of Bob Foster is mentioned? He has one of the weakest resumes of all all-time greats.

 

kostya tszyu was a (very good fighter) and solid champion who has a lot of fans and they might even say otherwise

 

i couldn't care less about Foster, it was you that made the inept comparison.

 

The point is, good head-to-head potential can overcome weakness of resume. Sonny Liston is another example. And Tszyu would give lots of trouble to anyone in history weighing 140lbs.

 

I rate Kostya as a great. He also developed into a much more complete fighter as his career went on. In particular, his body attack was almost cringe-inducing. His two losses are forgivable, the first being a lesson in his limitations at the time, the second a sign that he was at the end of the road. A Phillips rematch would have really cemented his place. Great fighter, would have been very competitive with any 140'er ever.

 

He was vey good.

One of the best ever at 140.

 

As I remember it, No one wanted to fight him in his prime. He had all the skills. Also a great fight against Rafael Ruelas should be on his resume.

 

Great amatuer fighter. Very, very good professional but not quite great.

 

Yes Great.

Do You Call Aaron Pryor a Great
Do You Call Julio C Chavez a Great
well then you have to call the man that ruled the 140 division for pretty much 7 years solid and the only man to Unify 140 a Great.

I May be biased.

Kostya Tszyu never said No to fighting anyone anywhere at anytime.

His resume has nothing to do with him and his management at all and more to do with oppisition.

I have to say this but if i could say this also.
*How many fighters fight a Juan LaPorte in the 4th Pro fight.
*How many fighters win the Title in there 16th Pro fight.
*How many fighters stopped Chavez
*How many fighters stopped or even dropped Miguel Gonzalez
*How many fighters stopped Hurtado (Tszyu,Whitaker)
*How many fighters can say they fought a Livingston Bramble type guy in there 10th Pro fight
*How many fighters can say they have unified the 140 division (Just 1 Tszyu)
*How many fighters can say they ruined a talent like Zab Judahs career.
*How many fighters can actually sit back and say that on average Kostya fought more opponents in there Prime at an average age of 28.1 than that of say a Floyd Mayweather who's average opponents age is 30.6
*How many fighters can say they fought 13 title fights not in there home country

Now im not saying you out there should change you minds but if you really look at how many careers Tszyu ruined and how much he did for a sport that has so many bad parts (I.e Boxers with Mouths) i can truely say that even though his resume may not be that of Pernell Whitakers,

I know deep down he is truely a Great and the more Kostya Tszyu's of the boxing world the better.

Because our sport gets enough bad publicity.

Heres one more run down for the not so many Kostya Tszyu knowledgable fans.
TSZYU
31 Wins 2 Loses (25KO)
World Title fights
18 Fights 15 Wins 2 Loses 1 NC (12KO)
Out of the 18 Title Fights 13 were on foriegn soil

Had a 2 year layoff in his Prime due to injury and came out after no other fights and blasted Mitchell in 3 rounds.

Beat Vernon Forrest in the amatuers by a count of 32-9 at the world titles.

I believe his best wins are
Gonzalez
Judah
Mitchell
Hurtado
Mayweather