Looking back at Kostya Tszyu... maybe he wasn't that good

My feelings on Tszyu are funny. I thought he was overrated as Hell during his time, then he became so hated post-retirement that I started defending him and even said he was underrated. Lately, I've been watching more and more Tszyu fights, and started noticing the many flaws he had. It's funny cause he was praised for his extremely high ring IQ, but in reality... I don't think his ring intelligence was as high as his fans would like to believe.

Overall, he was very talented offensively, but his defense was lacking, his chin/toughness was overrated (Hugo Pineda dropped him, and badly hurt him for Christ sake), and he lacked intangibles.

And getting back to his resume... it's just very underwhelming for a HOF caliber fighter.

Tszyu definitely falls into the "very good" category. I can't bring myself to call him a great, cause he wasn't.

I'm pretty critical of Floyd, but the truth is.... Floyd would have beaten the shit outta ANY version of Tszyu... probably stopped him.

 

He wad a solid fighter, but not a top p4p one, ad sime as his fans claim he was. Truth is, his two best wins are judah and mitchell. Not exactly the stuff legends are made of.

And guy struggled with almost any decent fighter he fought. Looked like shit against an old jjl, that bum ass gatti blew out of the ring soon after

 

His resume sucks. He would have given Floyd hell, though. He's better than Castillo or Maidana and would have pressured Floyd similarly. Plus, he would have been quite a bit bigger than Floyd had they fought at 140 back then.

 

I never got the Tszyu thing if I'm honest, he was alright, nothing special.

 

Usually punchers struggle with opponents who can box and move. If they fight in a straight up stance and tend to rely on one hand the disparity is magnified. Not that Tszyu's resume is loaded with great boxers, but he seemed to have an easier time against the few somewhat elite ones he faced than he did lesser skilled foes. Judah and Mitchell were either favorites or had opinion split going in against both. Zab basically became a meme and Mitchell got thoroughly dominated.

Style wise that wasn't supposed to happen however somehow he managed it.

 

MWS would be loving this thread

 

Tim Bradley would have out-boxed him

 

Agreed. I think both his wins and losses illustrate that very well.

 

That's a good matchup.

 

Tszyu sure as hell didn't dominated Mitchell the first time out

 

Tszyu was a very good fighter. Just short of being great.

He was a bit of a front runner and his chin while good, was far from iron.

He'd have lost to Floyd for sure and probably Terence Crawford too.

I'd still say he deserves to be in the hall of fame but he's not as good as the elite at 140. He would have never beaten the likes of Benitez, Pryor, Whitaker, Pacquiao, etc.

He'd have whooped Hatton had that fight taken place a couple of years earlier, though.

 

Mayweather would have had a field day with Tszyu's defence.

 

*sigh

I was going to specifically state second fight but I figured everybody on a boxing forum knew which one I was talking about, especially when speaking about Tszyu-Mitchell.

I'm grateful you're around to find a point of contention where there wasn't one. Merci.

 

I think that only considering one of the two fight against Mitchell, in order to proves he looks better against ''elite'' comp, is nonsensical to say the least

 

yeah

Never saw Tszyu as a dangerous opponent for PBF. Guy was too uptight and methodical to do anything

 

Maybe read my posts in this thread again instead of just looking to be contrarian. You love to constantly bring up "straw men" and then do it yourself without any self-awareness.

 

Maybe it's me, but when someone claim that Zoo seems to have easier time against the elite foes he faced (citing the second Mitchell fight), I think that him looking like shit against Mitchel the first time, need to be taken in consideration.

But maybe it's a bit too complicated for you

 

Never mind. You don't have basic reading comprehension.

I hear Wilfrid Laurier University is hiring. You should apply.

 

there was nothing in your post that could lead to incomprehension, it was just incredibly nonsensical (if we forget about the times the didn't look great, zoo always looked great against top oppositions)

 

I can forgive not pursing the Hatton rematch. It's not like he fought again.

But he definitely didn't want it with Cool Vince again.

 

I hate DLH, but I think there's a strong possibility he would have stopped Tszyu at 140.

After Tszyu KO'd Jan Bergman, Jeff Fenech called him better than Roy .

 

One of Tszyu's problems was that he was an amateur for such a long time.

As an amateur he was superb, among the very best. Accurate, strong, deceptively quick and smart. This also created the illusion on him being better than he actually was.

The problem was his defence, which was based on using the distance and controlling the opponents with his left hand. It worked well for three rounds and thus is an excellent skill for amateurs but it is very difficult to keep up for twelve.

Tszyu was never able to develop his style to meet the demands of the pro game, he went with what he had learned as an ammy, and it only took him so far. Very good career, but not great.

What I don't agree is the conception of him as a quitter. He did get up from the floor to win, and Vince beat him down by landing enough, Tszyu couldn't keep him off

 

There's different levels of heart. Tszyu didn't lack AS MUCH heart as a Victor Ortiz, but he definitely was a front runner who had some "give" in him.

 

Great posts by Ugo and Punk.

I think ring IQ is the area where Tszyu is most overrated. Pre-Hatton he was called this boxing scientist.. but he simply wasn't a plan B type of fighter.

People give Trinidad similar flack, but I feel Tito's ring IQ was a lot higher than Tszyu's.

 

I thought Tito was overrated as fuck, but he was definitely a level above Tszyu.

 

Overall, my opinion of Tszyu has never really changed. I mean, I never thought he would beat guys like Pryor, prime Chavez, Cervantes, Benitez, Floyd, DLH, Pac, ect..

Tim Bradley was mentioned before... Tszyu wins that fight. For Christ sake, Tim could BARELY handle caveman Provo.