Yes, the "perfect style" to beat Tszyu was popularly considered to be a decent right hand with some juice on it, and not much else. You weren't alone in thinking Tackie may have had the formula.
I underestimated how painfully fucking slow Tackie was. I'll never forget the post-fight interview, even though I haven't watched it in 20 years. Tackie, after dropping all 12 rounds: "We will meet again." Tszyu: "Hehehe, I don't think so."
Being a supporter of Australian fighters means we have a lot of dudes who have an undefeated local records, get a regional strap via some obscure "Pan Canadian-Iranian Bolivian-Libyan Diamond belt" fighting an international nobody and obtaining a top 5 world ranking, then fighting for a proper belt and getting found out. Back in the day Jeff Fenech had a FOX cable TV deal under the "Black Tie Boxing" banner. Many used to call it "Black Thai Boxing" because most of the opponents were Thai or Fijian clubfighters punching on like maniacs for a few $$ and a holiday, and beating a few touted Aussies in the process . A few decent Fenech fighters like the Husseins went through the "Black Thai" fight club system and many felt they weren't really ready for the likes of seasoned Mexicans etc.
Another thing I'll never forget about Tszyu-Tackie: It was on the same night as Gatti-Ward 1. I swore going in that Tszyu-Tackie was gonna be the more action-packed fight, and I wasn't alone in that thinking. Had we only known how wrong we would be...
It was really bad. Not only was Tackie slow and boring, Tszyu was trying to be some sort of "twinkle-toes" boxer because he was getting criticised for falling in love with his power. So he just popped a lot of jabs and went the distance, which was boring as fuck.
I think Tackie lost to Matthew Hatton later on as well. He doesn't really fit the criteria but Nedal Hussein was in a lot of Commonwealth title fights over here where he beat up the next UK "prospect", also dropped Pacquiao with a jab. Irish will remember him, but in the 90s there was a fella called Affif Djelti who separated the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, on the domestic UK scene. You had to have something about you to beat him, otherwise you were getting exposed.
That's an interesting perspective on international boxing and how it varies from region to region. For instance, we're well aware that Europe boasts some of the world's finest soccer players, while there are various tiers within European soccer, much like in Mexican and American soccer, which are fairly comparable in quality, with Mexican soccer possibly having a slight edge. However when Mexican or American soccer players aspire to make it "big" they often aim to play in Europe. It's interesting that you mentioned how seasoned Mexican fighters appear to be on a different level compared to Australian fighters. So when it comes to determining where the best boxers in the world originate from is there a particular country that stands out as the pinnacle of the sport? Is there a nation that you consider to produce the best boxers globally, as America does for basketball?
i made the mistake of attending tszyu- tackie. same night as gatti ward 1 which everyone was all hyped about. that card was the first time i literally fell asleep in the arena at a live fight during the toygonbaev vs oba carr fight.
Angulo gave that guy one of the worst beatings of all time. Honestly, it was the type of sustained beating that often kills a guy. Tsurkan was lucky to leave with his life.