Rank these recent european fighters...

[THE PHILOSOPHER]

The greatness of tszyu is under appreciated, true story! I used to love the way he would knock out slick fighters. Watch this (Cool video):





Here's a list of some of the opponents he beat , their record when they first fought Kostya and some of the titles they've held...


Zab Judah (27-0-0) WBO/IBF140 , WBC/WBA/IBF147 Champion
Sharmba Mitchell (47-2-0) WBA/IBF140 Champion
Julio Cesar Chavez (103-4-2) WBC130 , WBC/WBA135 , WBC/IBF140
Champion
Roger Mayweather (54-11-0) WBA130 , WBC/IBO140 , IBA/IBO147 Champion
Rafael Ruelas (52-3-0) IBF135 Champion
Jesse James Leija (43-5-2) WBC130 , IBA135 Champion
Oktay Urkal (28-0-0)
Ben Tackie (24-2-0)
Miguel Angel Gonzalez (43-1-1) WBC135 Champion
Diobelys Hurtado (28-1-0) WBA/IBA140 Champion
Calvin Grove (49-9-0) IBF126 Champion
Ismael Armando Chaves (40-5-3)
Jan Piet Bergman (32-0-0) WBU147 Champion
Corey Johnson (20-1-1) IBC140 Champion
Hugo Pineda (27-0-1)
Jake Rodriguez (26-2-2) IBF140 Champion
Pedro Sanchez (26-1-2)
Angel Hernandez (40-1-2)
Hector Lopez (26-2-1)
Livingstone Bramble (34-11-3) WBA135 Champion
Juan LaPorte (37-12-0) WBC126 Champion

Kostya was the #1 fighter at 140lbs for over 10 years!!!!!!

He also was the first fighter in 30 years to unify the title's at 140 lbs. Judah WAS a big win, judah was also favored to beat Tszyu!! This guy was the business pure & simple. If more fighters these days had his work ethics & discipline boxing would be in a better state.

His only bad loss was to Phillips, a fight that he was WINNING up until the last couple of rounds where his terrible training habits and lack of activity (most people forget that he had only fought one round in a year) of the time cost him the fight after he ran out of gas. Still, after renewing his proper training he came back and didn't lose for the next eight years until his last fight at the age of 36 against Hatton in a brawl.

He fought an incredible sixteen champions in his short career (only had thirty or so fights) and was often stiffed during his prime years for lack of willing opponents. He just missed out on big fights with Mosley, Oscar, Mayweather for the high risk, low reward factor that he brought up until his final years as an older fighter in one of the top divisions in boxing where he was finally a big money opponent and name.

One of his better years though was 2001 which he was able to get three fights unifying the titles in a great fight against Sharmba Mitchell, defending it against the number one contender and undefeated 28-0 Oktay Urkal, then finishing the year by spectacularly knocking out the undefeated 27-0 IBF champion Zab Judah in two rounds thus becoming the first undisputed 140 pound champion in over thirty years.

He first turned pro in '92 and by '95 was already champion and for the rest of his career only fought the best. Great underrated career and fighter.

[Fenster]

Kostya was an excellent fighter but he got knocked out in his "prime" and the best "prime" fighter he beat was Zab.

As for that 16 "world" champions stuff (they are alphabet holders). Yes it means he beat top rated fighters, however, i'm pretty certain loads of current top fighters will have similar numbers on their record.

[THE PHILOSOPHER]

Kostya was an excellent fighter but he got knocked out in his "prime"

So did mike tyson.

So did lennox.

So did klitschko.

[Fenster]

Kostya was an excellent fighter but he got knocked out in his "prime"

So did mike tyson.

So did lennox.

So did klitschko.

Yeah excellent fighters get beat in their prime. However, it has to be considered when you choose specific fighters to make a comparision with.

Kostya didn't avenge his loss as say Lewis did (even though Lewis is not on the list).

[THE PHILOSOPHER]

His only bad loss was to Phillips, a fight that he was WINNING up until the last couple of rounds where his terrible training habits and lack of activity (most people forget that he had only fought one round in a year) of the time cost him the fight after he ran out of gas. Still, after renewing his proper training he came back and didn't lose for the next eight years until his last fight at the age of 36 against Hatton in a brawl.


He had only fought one round in a year at the time of the Phillips fight and had fallen into shocking training habits well away from his proper boxing, speed and stamina training that he picked up again after that loss. Also, during his peak years as already mentioned he struggled to find willing opponents to take the high risk low reward fight shown in his activity during his best years and early career often fighting only twice a year, sometimes only once from as early as his fourteenth fight! Even before that he was only able to fight three times a year which would be a normal champions routine, instead of a young, up and coming prospect. I think that was one of the banes of his career and that inactivity finally caught up to him by the end of his career struggling with numerous injuries and having to postpone fights etc and by the end was only able to fight once a year for the last four years of his career.

[Master]

Kostya Tszyu – beat Gonzales brutally and undefeated Judah
Joe Calzaghe- beat Eubanks, Kessler, Lacy, B Hop,
Wladimr Klitschko- unified and consistent champ
Vitali Kiltschko – durable but injuries let him down
Darius Michalczewski- avoided Roy Jones and beaten by Gonzales

[THE THIRD MAN]

Kostya was an excellent fighter but he got knocked out in his "prime" and the best "prime" fighter he beat was Zab.

As for that 16 "world" champions stuff (they are alphabet holders). Yes it means he beat top rated fighters, however, i'm pretty certain loads of current top fighters will have similar numbers on their record.

So did Joe Louis, George Foreman and Lennox Lewis. Phillips was beaten by Millet so a rematch couldn't be made as planned. Tszyu was matched up with Miguel Angel Gonzalez (WBC lightweight champion for 5 years and defended it 9 times, his only loss before fighting Tszyu was to DLH) and Millett went on to fight Judah in 2000. Tszyu was the underdog in the Judah fight in 2001, Judah was then unbeaten and looked every bit as good as Floyd leading up to this fight. Tszyu actually ruined his career. His following 3 years after the Phillips loss were outstanding.

[Bobthepen]

He fought an incredible sixteen champions in his short career (only had thirty or so fights) and was often stiffed during his prime years for lack of willing opponents. He just missed out on big fights with Mosley, Oscar, Mayweather for the high risk, low reward factor that he brought up until his final years as an older fighter in one of the top divisions in boxing where he was finally a big money opponent and name.

.

Hardly really fair on the three you mentioned. Oscar was on a collision course with Tszyu, when Tszyu blew it by being knocked out by Phillips. One can't blame an ambitious young Oscar for skipping a fighter with no belt and a devastating recent KO defeat.
Mosley jumped two weight divisions to fight his old mate Oscar for a fortune, for a belt. Can't fault that. Pacquiao did the same.
Mayweather only became a champion at 140lbs the same month Tszyu lost his belt to Hatton, so it wasn't like there was an overlap.
If I'm honest, all three are a country mile above anybody Tszyu fought, and I can't help but feel he would have been exposed against those three. I sometimes wonder if Tszyu knew it himself, which is why he cleaned up at 140lbs, when 147lbs was brimming with talent and dollars. Big fish, small pond.