Nearly two months have passed since Ricky Hatton dethroned Kostya Tszyu to become the IBF junior welterweight champion of the world, and there is still no word from Tszyu on whether or not he plans to fight again. Indeed the signals from his camp have become increasingly conflicting and confusing. In the immediate
aftermath of the fight, Tszyu’s manager Matthew Watt stated that the Hatton bout would be Kostya’s last at 140-pounds. This would seem to add weight to the theory that Tszyu (who looked emaciated at the weigh in) was having trouble making the junior welterweight limit. However, in his recent web forum chat Tszyu himself stated that, “If I decide to fight again – I want the rematch.” Kostya’s father Boris also joined the debate stating that were his son to walk away from the sport at this point it, “Would be the wrong thing.” The women of the Tszyu family, Kostya’s wife Natasha and mother Valentina have made it clear that they would like to see him retire.
Later in the web chat Tszyu said that if he did not think he could beat Ricky Hatton, he would not bother pursuing a rematch and hinted that striking a deal would be difficult. “I am not 100% sure we could make a deal.” This is in spite of Hatton’s apparent willingness to accept a rematch. Kostya reiterated his claim that he is a better boxer now, at thirty-five, than when he was twenty-five. Technically, this may be true – he is no longer the reckless wunderkind who bludgeoned so many opponents into submission. But his younger self had something that the 2005 model Tszyu is lacking – the willingness to go through hell to win.
Kostya Tszyu lost his heart for the battle somewhere between Hatton’s ninth round low blow and the moment after the eleventh round when he allowed himself to be retired by trainer Johnny Lewis. Can he get it back? At the age of thirty-five, does he want to get it back? With a resume that reads like a who’s who of the 140-pound division for the last ten years and a bank account to match, does he NEED to get it back?
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