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
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