Kostya Tszyu hall of fame induction

[Andre]

I'm not an aussie, but I thought Kostya had a hall of fame career, tarnished a bit by his loss to Ricky Hatton in his last fight as a pro.

I'm hope Tszyu is doing well financially and otherwise, and congrats on being inducted into the boxing hall of fame!

Unlike Jones Jr and Mosley Tszyu did the right thing and retired, he fought a young gun in Hatton on his home turf, with just 3 rounds in the ring in 36 months, an english ref and 20,000 Hatton fans cheering on every low blow that was landed..so the noise was deafening. Tszyu was approaching 36 yrs old, coming back after a shoulder injury and was quite simply done. More than half his pro fight career was against 16 World Champions. The Phillips loss being the only real blemish and that was due to a gastro attack that left him drained before fight time after the weigh in. Remember he almost had Phillips out of there in round 3, he had nothing left in the tank after round 5, a rematch would have seen a very early KO win. The only reason a rematch didn't happen was Millet stopped Phillips in 1999 and Tszyu went onto to fight Gonzalez. The amazing thing is, i don't think we ever really saw the best of Kostya Tszyu, we saw glimpses of it, but without a Mosley, DLH or Floyd fight i think he will always have a question mark against in his name and that's a shame. He was an undisputed world champion in his time and that is a rarity in boxing.

Kostya Tszyu didn't look like he had any problems during the Vince Phillips fight, he just fought a guy who was hungry and didn't give him space. As it's been said many times Kostya Tszyu likes distance, his inside fighting skills aren't great which is why he was beaten by both Hatton, Phillips.

He could box very well,I think he just chose war instead and liked to test his own ground and that of others. You only got to watch his dismantlement of Vernon Forrest in the world titles to see what tools he had behind him.

[JazMerkin]

I don't really disagree with Tszyu being inducted, I guess I just don't really feel he's a 1st ballot hall of famer. I think of those being inducted this time, only really Chavez has the feel of a 1st ballot kind of guy. Tyson obviously is because of who he is, but in truth his resume is not a million miles better than Tszyu's. He deserves to be there though, so I guess he gets in when he gets in. I do feel a bit sorry for him that on the two occasions that he was so close to real huge fights, he lost the fight before. I've often wondered whether he lost those fights because Phillips & Hatton were bad style match-ups for him or if he just took his eye off the ball a little & started thinking about Oscar & Floyd.

[THE THIRD MAN]

I am somewhat puzzled as to the criticism of Tszyu's induction to the HOF and the questioning of his record. As i have stated before he fought 16 world champions including fighting one in only his 4th pro fight. I remember Tszyu's camp throwing out the challenge to JCC after that and JC wanted nothing to do with him then. Tszyu became a world champion in January 1995 and was still a world champion in June 2005, he unified the division, not done for 30 years and beat all comers in a division that at one time was regarded as the best in boxing in 2001!
I am not sure what else he could've done, he lost only twice and there were reasons for both losses (he was physically ill the night before the Phillips fight, but the fight went ahead) that's boxing, the show must go on, but no one should judge him on the Phillips loss. Any rematch would've seen a very early KO win for Tszyu, Millett just got in first. The only person happier than Vince Phillips that night was Oscar De La Hoya!
As for Hatton, Tszyu was approaching 36 yrs old, had injuries and fought just 3 rounds in 36 months. He didn't expect to be wearing his balls as earrings that night either! Judge him on what he did over a 12 year career not those two losses. Will anyone be critical of Mosley when he is inducted? The last 9 years of his career show a 50% win loss record!
9 wins 7 losses 1 NC 1 Draw.

[Hulk]

I am somewhat puzzled as to the criticism of Tszyu's induction to the HOF and the questioning of his record. As i have stated before he fought 16 world champions including fighting one in only his 4th pro fight. I remember Tszyu's camp throwing out the challenge to JCC after that and JC wanted nothing to do with him then. Tszyu became a world champion in January 1995 and was still a world champion in June 2005, he unified the division, not done for 30 years and beat all comers in a division that at one time was regarded as the best in boxing in 2001!
I am not sure what else he could've done, he lost only twice and there were reasons for both losses (he was physically ill the night before the Phillips fight, but the fight went ahead) that's boxing, the show must go on, but no one should judge him on the Phillips loss. Any rematch would've seen a very early KO win for Tszyu, Millett just got in first. The only person happier than Vince Phillips that night was Oscar De La Hoya!
As for Hatton, Tszyu was approaching 36 yrs old, had injuries and fought just 3 rounds in 36 months. He didn't expect to be wearing his balls as earrings that night either! Judge him on what he did over a 12 year career not those two losses. Will anyone be critical of Mosley when he is inducted? The last 9 years of his career show a 50% win loss record!
9 wins 7 losses 1 NC 1 Draw.

I think that its just a case of being only as good as your last fight.

Many people remember Tzyu quitting against Ricky Hatton and are forgetting about all the great victories he had. And just how highly rated he was in the boxing world at 140, particularly after he beat Sharmba Mitchell the second time.