Is Kostya Tszyu really the greatest 140 pounder ever?

[zhubin]

I've thought for a while that his resume was overrated.

He doesn't have a great win, he has some good wins.

Doesn't mean he's not a good fighter, I think he was a great fighter but he never had that elite win. Maybe for a time Judah looked like a great win but does anybody really think that's a great win now? You can say it wasn't his fault that he never had that big fight win but that's not really the point.

And he didn't avenge his losses, although the Hatton one is understandable cause he was getting up there and just decided to retire.

So I would say no.

50% of all Tszyu's fights were against World Champions, how can his resume be overrated? As for rematches, a Phillips second fight was scheduled but he lost to Millett in 1999 and Tszyu went onto to fight Miguel Angel Gonzalez.

stats like that don't really mean a whole lot to me, I'm not saying he didn't fight some good fighters but I don't think he ever beat a truly great fighter and that hurts him record wise. He's beaten some good fighters, some good champions but who would you say was his best win? Judah, Gonzalez, Hurtado, Mitchell, Urkal? Those are good wins, some very good but any of those guys truly elite?

BTW you might be right about the rematch stuff, I don't remember but it wouldn't have hurt him legacy wise to rematch Phillips anyway. Either way that's not as big a deal. Its not like I don't think he was a great fighter, he's a Hall of Famer, just for whatever reason (like other people have said some guys just pretty much skipped right over 140)he never had that truly great win IMO.

I don't think it was his fault that fighters like Mosley, DLH and to a lesser degree PBF chose to
avoid him, DLH went to 147lb in 97 to fight Whitaker and Mosley missed 140 altogether to fight DLH,
A loss to Tszyu by either fighter and huge paydays go down the drain.
I don't blame these guys because Tszyu would have been to dangerous to face at that time.
PBF had his chance as he was still fighting in divisions below Tszyu until 2004.
Tszyu also had a habit of ending good fighters careers, not many of his opponents were the same again after losing to Tszyu. You are correct in saying he never had a mega fight but there are valid reasons for it not happening. Imagine a Pryor V Tszyu fight, it would've have been a sight to behold!

Well said. Cool Click!