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.
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