This. Vince Phillips was a bust in his career, but he was highly touted on his way up. He was a Tapiaesque loser and never fulfilled his potential. He still was a world champion in spite of himself. Phillips was a decent fighter , excellent work rate , a great right hand although it was very telegraphed.If you want to bash KT, bash him losing to Duran Jr. Ricky the holdman. I think KT could beat Cotto today.
What's bullshit is thinking Tszyu is anywhere near as good as Cotto. Cotto is a better fighter in almost every way, and would have stopped Tszyu at any weight class. Tszyu is a greasy, heartless faggot, he would fold against someone of Cotto's calibre every time, just like he did against Cool Vince and Hatton.
Honestly, I don't see what Cotto does better than him He has nowhere near as much power or heavy-handedness He is not a superior technician He doesn't have a better chin He's not stronger I'm no Kostya fan, and about the only thing I've ever had to say about him was that wasn't as good as a lot of white guys think he was... but he's clearly a better junior welterweight than Miguel Cotto was
Tszyu was a basic 1-2 fighter with a nice counter right hand, and that's about it. Cotto was more skilled, better jab, better footwork, better combos, more heart, better punch variety, better bodypunching, higher ring IQ. Just an overall superior fighter. Tszyu probably had an edge in power with his right cross at 140, but that's about his only advantage, and a better chin, but Cotto makes up for that with good recovery and a shit load more heart. Tszyu was good at taking single punches, but so what, you dish out enough and get the better of him, he folds, just like against Hatton and Vince, and that's what would happen against Cotto. The underrating of Cotto should be lessened by him being competitive against Floyd, the guy can flat out fight, and Tszyu continues to be talked about as an elite fighter. Tszyu is in the Tito/Hamed class of overration. Not a bad fighter by any means, but nowhere near the beast he's made out to be.
Nonsense. The guy was a master.He wasn't basic at all. He always knew how to keep the perfect distance. He'd have smashed Cotto. I think the best case scenario is Cotto losses 10-2 type of decision. Likely, Zu stops him. The only thing bad about Zu is he didn't have a great level of opposition.
No, I picked Tszyu in the matchup, I'm just saying that Cotto is a better fighter overall. A healthy non-fragile version of Cotto (ie., 147 and up) takes out Tszyu. Just a bad style matchup for him at 140, "like I said before."
Tszyu was a superb fighter. He had ridiculous power in both hands, could out box, or over-power opponents, great chin, was very economical with his punches but deceptively fast & had a laser-like RH and had great ring generalship, and conditioning. Great fighter. http://youtu.be/RFqzr4oMwZM
Cotto is a better, more skilled boxer, there's really no comparison. Tszyu was an average world champion, Cotto is an entry level elite fighter. That's not the only thing bad about Tszyu, you also have the fact that he was stopped and quit against the 2 best fighters of his career, neither of which are close to Manny/Floyd, there's also the fact that he is greasy, limited, and heartless. "He knew how to keep distance" :: So what, he was still basic, he just knew his range well. He was as basic as Tito. Tito had crisp, accurate punches, does that mean he's also not basic? You usually have a good eye for overrated fighters Ike, like Tito, I'm actually amazed you like Tszyu. He's in the exact same class of overratedness as Tito.
I sorta agree in a way with MWS, while Zoo had a lot going for him he had a glaring weakness I.e. could be manhandled and beat down. He liked to be the bully in the ring and when you took it to him and could take his heat, you were a good chance. But is Cotto the guy to do that to Zoo? Nah. He'd give Zoo enough room to settle and pick Cotto off. Close decision to Zoo.
