Kostya Tszyu

[Andre]

Trouble is not demanding a rematch with Philips early on made fans all over the world think Phillips had his number which maybe the case . After hearing about Phillips own drug abuse I thought he may of been on something that helped him along too, but that could of been my imagination running away. I just hated how back then in the day we thought the greats like Maradona and some other greats in other sports too were all natural talent but were in fact coke induced.

[THE THIRD MAN]

Trouble is not demanding a rematch with Philips early on made fans all over the world think Phillips had his number which maybe the case . After hearing about Phillips own drug abuse I thought he may of been on something that helped him along too, but that could of been my imagination running away. I just hated how back then in the day we thought the greats like Maradona and some other greats in other sports too were all natural talent but were in fact coke induced.

The rematch was going to happen, but Terronn Millett beat a laclustre Phillips in early 1999, Millett was then stripped of the title and Tszyu fought Miguel Angel Gonzalez. Phillips would not have lasted 3 rounds in any rematch IMO.

[Andre]

Why do you say that mate that he wouldnt go many rounds if it occurred again?
Do you think Phillips just had a real good night and Kostya a bad one?

Its a decent old war to watch Ive looked at it a number of times there wasnt luck involved in it. I recon Hatton studied it too and thought fukkin hell this it, its got to be all or nothing and I have to rough him up anyway I can. I also think Urkal studied it too, he went to war as well. Others went in mistakenly thinking they had some edge and got dragged down the mines for real days work instead. That would of happened to Judah too, I believe he couldnt of won that other than an early lucky stoppage similar to what he got done to him.

[THE THIRD MAN]

Why do you say that mate that he wouldnt go many rounds if it occurred again?
Do you think Phillips just had a real good night and Kostya a bad one?

Its a decent old war to watch Ive looked at it a number of times there wasnt luck involved in it. I recon Hatton studied it too and thought fukkin hell this it, its got to be all or nothing and I have to rough him up anyway I can. I also think Urkal studied it too, he went to war as well. Others went in mistakenly thinking they had some edge and got dragged down the mines for real days work instead. That would of happened to Judah too, I believe he couldnt of won that other than an early lucky stoppage similar to what he got done to him.

He had a good night alright, Tszyu was told to call off the fight due to a gastro attack the night before. He went into the ring at 138lb, 2 lb lighter than the weigh in and Phillips at about 145lb. Tszyu wanted the show to go on, it was a mistake.

[Andre]

Why do you say that mate that he wouldnt go many rounds if it occurred again?
Do you think Phillips just had a real good night and Kostya a bad one?

Its a decent old war to watch Ive looked at it a number of times there wasnt luck involved in it. I recon Hatton studied it too and thought fukkin hell this it, its got to be all or nothing and I have to rough him up anyway I can. I also think Urkal studied it too, he went to war as well. Others went in mistakenly thinking they had some edge and got dragged down the mines for real days work instead. That would of happened to Judah too, I believe he couldnt of won that other than an early lucky stoppage similar to what he got done to him.

He had a good night alright, Tszyu was told to call off the fight due to a gastro attack the night before. He went into the ring at 138lb, 2 lb lighter than the weigh in and Phillips at about 145lb. Tszyu wanted the show to go on, it was a mistake.

Wow I didnt realize that he came in at 138! Not like him at all, Kostya is a big barrel chested dude out of the ring when walking around and its an art form how he strips weight to fight at that chosen weight then come in big on fight day.
I remember him taking about that once and I was surprised that it involved such big limits and numbers of dehydrating to such an extent then re hydrating. I always thought that its a big part, but never such an art in itself when being big to start with.

[THE THIRD MAN]

Why do you say that mate that he wouldnt go many rounds if it occurred again?
Do you think Phillips just had a real good night and Kostya a bad one?

Its a decent old war to watch Ive looked at it a number of times there wasnt luck involved in it. I recon Hatton studied it too and thought fukkin hell this it, its got to be all or nothing and I have to rough him up anyway I can. I also think Urkal studied it too, he went to war as well. Others went in mistakenly thinking they had some edge and got dragged down the mines for real days work instead. That would of happened to Judah too, I believe he couldnt of won that other than an early lucky stoppage similar to what he got done to him.

He had a good night alright, Tszyu was told to call off the fight due to a gastro attack the night before. He went into the ring at 138lb, 2 lb lighter than the weigh in and Phillips at about 145lb. Tszyu wanted the show to go on, it was a mistake.

Wow I didnt realize that he came in at 138! Not like him at all, Kostya is a big barrel chested dude out of the ring when walking around and its an art form how he strips weight to fight at that chosen weight then come in big on fight day.
I remember him taking about that once and I was surprised that it involved such big limits and numbers of dehydrating to such an extent then re hydrating. I always thought that its a big part, but never such an art in itself when being big to start with.

This occured due to gastro problems leading up to the weigh in, he had the shits for days and instead of putting on weight after the weigh in he continued to lose weight. If you look at the fight, he never had the power or stamina that we usually associate with Tszyu and i remember thinking by round 5 he was in trouble. He was landing punches on Phillips, but with little effect? He also looked drawn and gaunt at the Hatton weigh in when he didn't make the weight the first time. There was talk of him going up to Welter before the Hatton fight and facing Spinks, he was having trouble making 140lb by this time, being out of the ring for almost 2 years wouldn't have helped his cause much. In retrospect he should've gone to Welter after the Mitchell fight. The lure of a big pay day and a possible PBF fight clouded his judgement. C'est la Vie