Thread: How will Kostya Tszyu be remembered

I was one of the originals of Kostyas forum and the Tszyu crew ,love the guy for everything he bought to the sport and the interest that he generated from within Australia Russia and also many from America once they realized he came to fight not just survive everytime.Sign of a real Champ.
I think the two losses were both great fights.
I feel if Kostya had used all of the boxing skills that I know he has he may of turned those fights into a scoring match, instead of fighting the fight that the fans want to see; as in (move in get it on, see who is the strongest fastest more powerful); then he may have faired better but the fights wouldnt have been great battles if he had.
Kostya comes to test out himself and others every time, (Ok maybe not with his mate Leiga) But thats the only one; it was the first fight after a huge long break from injury and I think it was a tune up and he came out cold,so we didnt get to see the real him shine out.

Anyway both Vince and Ricky beat him at his own game and both took as much as they gave and Kostya caved in standing his ground fighting his fight.
Props to both Phillips and Hatton for having a real Champs number.

Kostya will always be remembered as one of the greatest 140 lb fighters of all time. Unfortunately he will also be remembered for his loss to Hatton. This is not a slight on KT, but it is a fact compounded by the mass of the Hatton fan base.

KT was always great to watch his timing was unreal. Seemed he was in just the right place at just the right time. I wish he would have hung around a little longer, I think he could of had some good fights left in him for sure.

Originally Posted by Kel

Here is a cracking Kostya vid. It starts with his 2 losses, which I kind of like and shows a lot of great footage. Good song too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23dS7...eature=related

Dam he could hit hard. Bergman looked like he ws killed.

Originally Posted by Andre

I was one of the originals of Kostyas forum and the Tszyu crew ,love the guy for everything he bought to the sport and the interest that he generated from within Australia Russia and also many from America once they realized he came to fight not just survive everytime.Sign of a real Champ.
I think the two losses were both great fights.
I feel if Kostya had used all of the boxing skills that I know he has he may of turned those fights into a scoring match, instead of fighting the fight that the fans want to see; as in (move in get it on, see who is the strongest fastest more powerful); then he may have faired better but the fights wouldnt have been great battles if he had.
Kostya comes to test out himself and others every time, (Ok maybe not with his mate Leiga) But thats the only one; it was the first fight after a huge long break from injury and I think it was a tune up and he came out cold,so we didnt get to see the real him shine out.

Anyway both Vince and Ricky beat him at his own game and both took as much as they gave and Kostya caved in standing his ground fighting his fight.
Props to both Phillips and Hatton for having a real Champs number.

Great post Andre, being from the forum you will remember that Kostya fought Hatton because he asked his fans on the forum who they would like him to fight next and most voted Hatton

Gotta love the way he is with his fans, doing all the live forum chats with them was great reading.

Tzyu was a class act thats for sure. And a great fighter, his right hand was lethal at 140. His wins against Mitchell twice and Judah once stand out.

Still I can't shake the fact that he quit against Hatton.

It stays with me as the most defining thing about Kostya Tzyu. Which isn't fair. But still.

i think he will be most remembered for makin zab do the chicken dance

Originally Posted by Hulk

Tzyu was a class act thats for sure. And a great fighter, his right hand was lethal at 140. His wins against Mitchell twice and Judah once stand out.

Still I can't shake the fact that he quit against Hatton.

It stays with me as the most defining thing about Kostya Tzyu. Which isn't fair. But still.

This will sound crazy, but i always saw the quit to hatton as a passing of the torch.
He saw hattons heart, his will, he saw how badly hatton wanted it.
He was content with relinquishing all of his glory to hatton.

I just always thought there was much more to it.

Originally Posted by intoccabile

Originally Posted by Hulk

Tzyu was a class act thats for sure. And a great fighter, his right hand was lethal at 140. His wins against Mitchell twice and Judah once stand out.

Still I can't shake the fact that he quit against Hatton.

It stays with me as the most defining thing about Kostya Tzyu. Which isn't fair. But still.

This will sound crazy, but i always saw the quit to hatton as a passing of the torch.
He saw hattons heart, his will, he saw how badly hatton wanted it.
He was content with relinquishing all of his glory to hatton.

I just always thought there was much more to it.

plus he was tired of getting punched in the balls

Originally Posted by killersheep

Originally Posted by intoccabile

Originally Posted by Hulk

Tzyu was a class act thats for sure. And a great fighter, his right hand was lethal at 140. His wins against Mitchell twice and Judah once stand out.

Still I can't shake the fact that he quit against Hatton.

It stays with me as the most defining thing about Kostya Tzyu. Which isn't fair. But still.

This will sound crazy, but i always saw the quit to hatton as a passing of the torch.
He saw hattons heart, his will, he saw how badly hatton wanted it.
He was content with relinquishing all of his glory to hatton.

I just always thought there was much more to it.

plus he was tired of getting punched in the balls

Beat me to it.

Originally Posted by Hulk

Tzyu was a class act thats for sure. And a great fighter, his right hand was lethal at 140. His wins against Mitchell twice and Judah once stand out.

Still I can't shake the fact that he quit against Hatton.

It stays with me as the most defining thing about Kostya Tzyu. Which isn't fair. But still.

According to Kostyas trainer Johnny Lewis, he didnt quit, they stopped the fight. Apparently it caused a bit of a rift between KT and Johnny, cos Kostya wanted to keep going. I think it was the right decision in the long run, he wasnt gonna win as long as Dave Parris was ref. Hatton was free to do whatever he wanted.

Originally Posted by eagle

Originally Posted by Hulk

Tzyu was a class act thats for sure. And a great fighter, his right hand was lethal at 140. His wins against Mitchell twice and Judah once stand out.

Still I can't shake the fact that he quit against Hatton.

It stays with me as the most defining thing about Kostya Tzyu. Which isn't fair. But still.

According to Kostyas trainer Johnny Lewis, he didnt quit, they stopped the fight. Apparently it caused a bit of a rift between KT and Johnny, cos Kostya wanted to keep going. I think it was the right decision in the long run, he wasnt gonna win as long as Dave Parris was ref. Hatton was free to do whatever he wanted.

Just watched the end of the 11th again.. Kostya tells the ref he's done. The ref comes over and he shakes his head.

The Hatton fight has always been a hard pill for me to swallow. Everything about that fight just seemed stacked against Tszyu. Kostya fighting in Manchester, a horrible referee, Tszyu not really in his prime anymore, etc. Not trying to short change Ricky for the result...he did what he had to and took full advantage of the circumstances...but for me personally...that fight is not indicative of Tszyu's true greatness or his career as a whole.

Tszyu will be remembered as argueably the greatest 140 lbr. ever...
and why not in a div. that has had fighters such as Pryor, JCC, Cervantes & Locche. I say Tszyus got as good of a shot as they do.

For his power for his training regime for his long reign as a champ there for the long career I mean he rained supreme for about 9 yrs.

Tszyu will def. be a Hall of famer.

Hall of Fame fighter and an ATG at 140.

Originally Posted by GuyIncognito76

I don't think becoming an old man and losing to a peek Ricky Hatton affects your legacy!

Yeh an old 35 year old with less fights than Hatton and only one real war in the ring (Philips) and coming off one of his best career wins (Mitchell) where he looked awesome. Amazing how he became old and shot between fights