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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."

 

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 very much the junior welterweight version of Lewis-Tua. Like a carbon copy.

 

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.

 

Was that in Vegas?

 

That reminds me of another favorite - Andre Tsurkan.

 

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.

 

Yes.

 

Favorite contenders/gatekeeper/journeyman

Bert Cooper
Emanuel Augustus
Harold Brazier
Kevin Pompey
Santos Cardona
Troy Dorsey
Rudy Zavala
Frank Fletcher
Earl Hargrove
Curtis Parker

 

Yes but you had to move faster than frozen molasses

 

The thing is that Cooper was a very live heavyweight who simply had the misfortune to fight guys who were excellent in their own right and just had the schooling and finesse to expose his shortcomings. A bum he was not. He's basically Gerry Quarry or Herol Graham. In another time or place he's a titlist.

Compare him to Julian Letterlough. That's an actual bum whom people confuse for some unfortunate epochal talent.

 

Remember him well . Only lost to Colin Dunne himself a fringe contender of the era who beat Phillip Holiday and list on points to Schwer.

Djellti basically beat everybody who wasn't on that level. Charlie Shepherd for example.

I'd have loved to see Michael Gomez fight him. Gomez was actually a sort of a dangerous "bum". He beat up Alex Arthur and had Amir Khan on the mat.