I think he's massively overrated, especially the one hatton beat. the guy was beaten by vince phillips. Who did he beat? Judah? Tackie?
He was a very strong fighter. I remeber him throwing around Sharmba Mitchell like a rag doll when they tangled inside. if you look at his interviews before the Hatton fight he was actually welcoming Hatton to try to grapple inside with him. He was supremely confident that he was a much stronger man. But he found out that Hatton is stronger than an ox at 140. He ate a lot of lead rights in that fight as well. I think he was great fighter for his weight class. Had he gone up to 147 and mixed it up with Trinidad, DLH, and Quartey at the time I think he would have been defeated.
He was always one of my favorites...having said that, I'd say he was a great champion that some people overrated and some people underrated. The way he went out (quitting on his stool and being on the Aus Dancing with the Starts) makes it hard to be too giddy about his career. He came over as a cold hearted seek and destroy robot until that. Getting knocked out by Vince Phillips doesn't automatically make someone sucky...and Vince didn't stay on top long enough to make a rematch unavoidable IMO.
The guy was basically a bum, who enjoyed fighting feathereights (LaPorte, Grove, etc) and who avoided absolutely ALL top dogs in the boxing in his time. The best guy he's beaten is either Zab Judah or Sharmba Mitchell, and who HASN'T beaten these two? Not only was he a coward inside the ring, he was a scumbag outside of it, as well. He called Bill Mordey "my second father", then stole millions of dollars from him, and Mordey had to go through prolonged court-battle to get his money back. Only when Mordey die did the fucking scumbag sorta apologized. Zoo is a piece of gargabe, boxing-wise and human-wise.
I find over-rated/under-rated discussions are often pointless because people often use narrow views of the "rating" and then offer an absurd over-correction to it and you end up having a discussion that's not based in reality. Whatever people want to say about Tszyu, he was a two-time junior welterweight champion who unified the division in a year against at two well-regarded champions at the time...at a time when the talent in the division was considered rather deep. Mitchell and Judah did suffer subsequent losses, but the losses weren't at 140, and when he fought them in 2000 they had a combined 2 losses between them and something like an 11-0 record in title fights. Tszyu holds a 3-0 record over them, with two impressive knockouts over both of them. Tszyu was the undisputed junior welterweight champion a legitimate top 3-5 p4p fighter at his peak, something which didn't last long - due to injuries and layoffs - and he only fought four times after unifying the division. He has two losses, both inside the distance and both were major upsets the time...even though they were to quality fighters. That should say something about the respect people had for him as a fighter.
he's not overated by the majority of people...maybe by some, but i doubt it he's rarely ranked very highly, rarely picked in mythical math-ups, and rarely discussed in general.......so how is he overated :dunno: ________ Ferrari Gg50 Specifications
the only reason LOK and dympiplr dont like Tszyu is because he is not p4p #1 their teenybopper minds could never think about a guy who isn't a popular star ________ Extreme Q""
the dude was very popular :: all you teenyboppers loved him. But.. I watched as an ex crack head "COOL" Phillips destroyed your hero butt boy
Very good fighter, no doubt about it, but not a great one ( and most call him great so yes he's overrated ). His best win is vs Zab Judah, and IMO, the stoppage was terrible. His resume his pathetically bad for someone who unified the division and stayed on top for so long, his career is basically RJ at 175 lbs.
Yes it is, but you get the point, it's basically an A fighter beating B or C fighters (or for Tzyu a B beating C )
Yeah I get it. I wont be too harsh on Tszyu, cause in his prime I think he was very good fighter who'd beat the majority of 140 pounders in history. However he does get flack for never purusing the Philips rematch, and of course for quitting against Hatton. He's lucky Mosley by-passed 140 and went straight to 147, or else he would have never been champ for very long. He'd also never be champ if he was in the same era as Pryor, or a prime JCC.
Huh???:dunno: Vince Phillips had the Title for like a YEAR or More after he Beat Kostya...He Defended it 2-3 Times Before Losing to Millett... Vince Wanted to Give Kostya an IMMEDIATE RE...He even Offered to Give Kostya a RE N AUSTRALIA!!!!... Kostya Flat Out REFUSED & Went Soooooo Far as to Say,"Please Don't B Rude" @ his Press Conferences,when the Name "Vince Phillips" was Mentioned... A Former SecondsOut Poster Named REMUS was N Kostya's Camp Back N those Days & he was DUMBFOUNDED as to Why Kostya WOULDN'T Entertain the Idea of Facing Phillips Again...REMUS Didn't Wanna Question his Heart,but when U Couple that w/the Quitjob Against Hatton,U HAVE to Wonder... Best Jr Welter of his Era,EASILY a Top 10'er All Time @ that Weight,but just a Notch BELOW True "Greatness" N REED's Opinion...Kostya was VERY GOOD,but Not Quite "Great" N REED's Estimation... REED
Kostya problem/or fortune was that there was NOBODY GREAT for him to fight...Trinidad,Whitaker,Quartey were at 147 & DLH, Mosley, Mayweather were still fighting at lighter weights..or when they moved up they pass the division without stop..or just made a stop to collect straps... Kostya best wins were against Judah and Mitchell....kind of sucky for guy that dominated that jr. welter for a few years.
The problem is, it's hard to gauge his talent when his resume is utterly crap for someone so highly regarded....As many have said before, he only beat Judah and Mitchell. Never moved up or challenged his conqueror in a rematch. Beat an aging chavez....nothing special about him. Tszyu was a good fighter with a very good amateur background, but never faced anyone worth noting, and when he faced Hatton he never showed guts, or savvy, or ring generalship, or craftiness, or whatever it is that GREAT fighters show when that time comes to them in the ring, where they get separated from the rest. Instead he decided to let things happen, and pass the torch. I say he was not better than Hatton, let alone P4P material or all time top 10 at 140 lbs.
