Prime Jose Luis Castillo vs. Prime Kostya Tszyu - Who wins?

That was a faded KT with a corrupt ref. It wouldn't play out quite like that. Well... it might, but I doubt it.

 

Why is everyone saying KT had no stamina and a weak defense? I think about half the posters in this thread only saw him fight Hatton.

KT was one of the best amateur boxers of ALL TIME, his defense was tight as hell when he wanted to use it and he could box 12 rounds easily. He also had an EXCELLENT jab and left hook, he wasn't a one trick pony with the right hand. A few people here are getting it twisted when it comes to KT's abilities.

 

i'd pick Tszyu

 

Castillo wears him down late....Tszyu can crack but Castillo has a deceptive defense, he doesn't get hit with your biggest shots while he moves in and slowly breaks you down....

 

I was thinking the same thing they must have only watched a 36 year old Tszyu against Hatton.

Not the wrecking machine that walked through Gonzalez,Hurtado and Judah.

That was his Prime i feel from Hurtado to Judah. Thats the best version of KT we saw.

People should watch all those Tszyu fights before giving a assesment on a Prime Tszyu against Castillo.

 

By the time he had reached the top of division however his defensive skills that made him such a great amateur had diminished somewhat..or at least layed dormant..he become in love with his power and the thrill of the knockout.

Kostya also displayed stamina problems in his early, middle and late career...I dont know if he took to many training techniques and habits from his 4 round days but you will probably not find a harder trainer then Kostya and for some reason his stamina in higher paced fights didnt always hold up.
I can think of Lopez, Phillips, Urkal, and Hatton as examples off the top of my head, also read an interview where he said he was pretty tired at times in the Rueles fight...he was in the drivers seat for a lot of that fight so it was hard to tell.
Some people just dont have that natural stamina...plus Kostya was an intense fighter..he didnt really take his foot off the pedal..when he got going he kept going and thats why most guys never saw the final bell against him.

That being said neither his defense or his stamina were "weak", they were world class..Just a few others at that level sometimes had better.

I think Castillo would make a good jnr welter..dont use his fight with Hatton as an example of how he would go at the weight ..he just killed himself to make 135 for as long as he could because he was physically a beast there.

I pick Kostya to knock him out though...Jose had a great chin but he had an underrated defense which added to the belief his chin was iron, I dont think it exactly was..his chin was certainly cracked against Soto and Corrales..he was rocked against Casa.

This is not like the Phillips fight in the sense its not the bigger man coming down its the smaller man coming up..even though I dont think Castillo would have been weak or small at the weight.

Kostya by 8-10th round stoppage in a good scrap.

 

judah almost had him out in the first bro, come on now, call it how it is

 

No he didn't.

 

Tszyu by a mile.

 

Definitely. His slipping ability in is prime was highly underrated, and he made up for his tendency to plant his feet with great head movement and counter-punching. It's what set him apart from other power punches with that flat-footed, easten-euro style...

The Tszyu that picked apart the likes of Miguel Angel Gonzales and Rafael Ruelas would eventually break down Castillo. Tszyu by late stoppage, probably without a knockdown.

 

I don't think he was even hurt by Judah, just mildly surprised by the speed of that left uppercut. I saw no indication that it had any effect on him at all, let alone had him 'almost out'.