Two possibilities in this matchup: 1. Tszyu is too predictable and robotic for Locche and gets outclassed. 2. Locche's lack of firepower means he can't deter Tszyu, and he gets broken down. Which is it?
The second. locche is very overrated imo. Thrived on having friendly judges who would score rounds for him for being elusive, making faces and clowning around. Great defensive reflexes, but his offense is too poor to win this You need more than a jab amd a winging left hook to stop a train like tszyu.
Have you ever seen Locche's fight with the excellent Carlos Hernandez? He did not fight nearly as negatively as the myth goes.
Locche should beat him fairly clearly. Tszyu had great timing but was too one note offensively, I believe. Even when he does land, which he will, you’d have a hard time selling me that he’d finish the fight. Locche showed a strong chin and exceptional recuperative skills in the film we have. There’s a good case to be made that Hernandez was a better Lt. Welter than Tszyu. A harder hitter, too. He put Locche on his ass and had him seriously hurt at the end of the second round of their fight. Locche recuperated between rounds and proceeded to essentially beat Hernandez’ ass for the rest of the fight. All in close quarters. He even put him down twice. The dude could really fight when he knew he had to.
He was indeed. I just find the Hernandez fight to be much more concrete proof of his abilities, even if the Fuji fight is more renowned. Fuji was very limited, and tailor made for Locche to boot. Hernandez was on the same level as a power puncher, but was a much better and more difficult fighter to solve. The only other guys he faced that outclassed him to the same degree as Locche were Napoles and Laguna. He fought just about everybody, too.