Quote Originally Posted by DIOS DOMINICANO
Quote Originally Posted by THE THIRD MAN
I'm not buying it chaps, DLH fights Whitaker at 147llb one month before Tszyu fights Phillips so how was a future fight with DLH in the works? I'm saying DLH ducked Tszyu before his fight with Whitaker. As for Phillips and a rematch, perhaps he should not have got Ko'd by Millett in 1999 and a rematch may have been made, instead Tszyu fought Miguel Angel Gonzalez a much better opponent than Phillips.
It's all irrelevant now anyway,Tszyu lost to Phillips and that's accepted, he still went onto beat some good fighters and unify the division, Phillips became the journeyman he was destined to be.
Third man,

Yes or No: Should a fighter try to avenge a loss, if possible?

If you got KO'd by a guy who you feel you are better than, should you try to avenge that loss? Is that an honorable thing in the sport of boxing?

I mean, it wasn't like Tszyu didn't rematch Phillips because Phillips was a journeyman. Tszyu fought Ben Tackie and Jesse James Leija. So that "journeyman" excuse doesn't quite hold water. I'm sorry.
I agree with you that a fighter should avenge a loss, i think Phillips losing early in 1999 put a stop to it happening, I have seen Tszyu say this and the Gonzalez match up was presented to him for August of that year. If Phillips had of beaten Millett then a rematch would have certainly occurred and IMO wouldn't have lasted two or three rounds at that time. The only reason Tszyu took fights against Tackie and Leija was he was forced to by governing bodies who as you know will strip you of your title if you don't defend against who they say. This is a pitfall of being a unified title holder, Tszyu always wanted Mayweather and couldn't get him because PBF was HBO and Tszyu was with Showtime.
I would have loved to have seen Tszyu fight Phillips again but circumstances prevented it.
After 1999 Tszyu was offerred Chavez, Mitchell and then Judah...title unified, no time for the Cool one to get another go.