Rank these recent european fighters...

[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.