Is Kostya Tszyu Hall Of Fame Material?

[Goodnight, Irene]

He, "loses" a fight he is fully expected to win which conveniently voids a clash with De La Hoya, then, after years & years of domination, suddenly, "loses" another bout against another opponent he is fully expected to beat, when a fight with Mayweather is on the horizon...I see a pattern. Shame on him

Look at De La Hoya, in comparison. He is in fact so ballsy, he even arranges to get a decision he doesn't deserve against Sturm, in order to get at the towering Hopkins. That's class, all you little Tszyu-bags

[Evander]

Depends on what level ?

A, No
Kostya would be in between B and C.

[Goodnight, Irene]

Depends on what level ?

A, No
Kostya would be in between B and C.

[Jpreisser]

He, "loses" a fight he is fully expected to win which conveniently voids a clash with De La Hoya, then, after years & years of domination, suddenly, "loses" another bout against another opponent he is fully expected to beat, when a fight with Mayweather is on the horizon...I see a pattern. Shame on him

Look at De La Hoya, in comparison. He is in fact so ballsy, he even arranges to get a decision he doesn't deserve against Sturm, in order to get at the towering Hopkins. That's class, all you little Tszyu-bags

Lol. That is pretty funny. Makes sense that Tszyu convenietly loses fights to avoid fighting these people who scared him.......sure. Tszyu never avoided anyone. Why would he be scared of anyone when he had almost 300 amateur fights,fighting the best of the best there and fought on a high caliber from his 4th pro fight on?

[Goodnight, Irene]

He, "loses" a fight he is fully expected to win which conveniently voids a clash with De La Hoya, then, after years & years of domination, suddenly, "loses" another bout against another opponent he is fully expected to beat, when a fight with Mayweather is on the horizon...I see a pattern. Shame on him

Look at De La Hoya, in comparison. He is in fact so ballsy, he even arranges to get a decision he doesn't deserve against Sturm, in order to get at the towering Hopkins. That's class, all you little Tszyu-bags

Lol. That is pretty funny. Makes sense that Tszyu convenietly loses fights to avoid fighting these people who scared him.......sure. Tszyu never avoided anyone. Why would he be scared of anyone when he had almost 300 amateur fights,fighting the best of the best there and fought on a high caliber from his 4th pro fight on?

Well, you have to concede --- it's a suss situation. I mean, the timing is just a little perfect, right? De La Hoya was a monster at Jr. Welter, & no one would blame Tszyu for avoiding him, but to go to such lengths as to lose so as to not appear to be actively avoiding De La Hoya, that's pretty weak, you have to admit.

Why didn't he move up in weight, if he was so fearless? There were few big-name, big-money challenges at Jr. Welter at the time, but a veritable host of such scenarios just one division north. Forrest, Mosley, De La Hoya, Mayweather, Trinidad --- all would have netted Tszyu huge dollars, but he decided to stick it out against the likes of Mitchell, Chavez & Gonzalez? Hmmm. His biggest victory is probably the win against Judah, which leaves something to be desired. When Mayweather appeared to come calling, suddenly Tszyu's near-decade of domination comes to an abrupt halt against yet another man he is heavily-favoured to conquer? Doesn't seem to me Tszyu is so fearless.

In fact, you know, thinking about it --- I change my vote. There isn't a single true stand-out win on his entire ledger, the division he dominated was good, but a long way from being great, & his losses were against lesser men (especially Phillips, I mean come on!), which he actively chose not to pursue avenging. Doesn't seem so fearless to me.

Vote NO to Tszyu

[Jpreisser]

You are implying that Tszyu was scared,no actual proof there. As I can say everyone else was scared. No one actively pursued a fight with Tszyu. De La Hoya and Tszyu could have easily fought in 95` or 96`.Tszyu won the title at the beginning of 95` and De La Hoya was lingering around that weight class at the time. Losing to Vince Phillips is not the best thing to happen to Tszyu but it isn`t that bad either. Many great fighters lost to someone who happened to be a lesser fighter than they were. Seeing as that happened though,he only lost once in his prime,not too bad. Yes he was content with staying at 140 but he was there his whole life,even in the amateurs. That was his comfort zone,yes he could have tried harder to get fights at 147 but as I said all of these fighters didn`t really look in his direction. Nor did Mayweather. There was never any serious talk of that fight happening.

[Goodnight, Irene]

You are implying that Tszyu was scared,no actual proof there. As I can say everyone else was scared. No one actively pursued a fight with Tszyu. De La Hoya and Tszyu could have easily fought in 95` or 96`.Tszyu won the title at the beginning of 95` and De La Hoya was lingering around that weight class at the time. Losing to Vince Phillips is not the best thing to happen to Tszyu but it isn`t that bad either. Many great fighters lost to someone who happened to be a lesser fighter than they were. Seeing as that happened though,he only lost once in his prime,not too bad. Yes he was content with staying at 140 but he was there his whole life,even in the amateurs. That was his comfort zone,yes he could have tried harder to get fights at 147 but as I said all of these fighters didn`t really look in his direction. Nor did Mayweather. There was never any serious talk of that fight happening.

Alright, let's do this by the numbers. One thing at a time...

1. You were implying Tszyu was fearless --- where's the proof there? What I said is no different, & we both have circumstancial evidence for our views.

2. Tszyu didn't win the title in 95. Chavez was the champion until 96, when De La Hoya --- not Tszyu --- claimed the legitimate 140lb. title. It was Tszyu onus to chase De La Hoya for a fight, not only because of this, but because De La Hoya was much the bigger draw. Tszyu had so much more to gain from this fight than De La Hoya, but he loses --- unbelievably, if he's as good as you say he is --- to the lowly Phillips? That is highly suspect. When you think about it, it's the perfect cover to avoid De La Hoya without directly saying you don't want to fight him.

3. Mayweather had had just two fights at 140lbs. when Tszyu lost to Hatton. Was Tszyu getting edgy about Mayweather? The evidence mounts. He was getting older. Hatton represented a landmark payday --- go to England, throw the fight, retire on Warren's generous nest egg. The more I think about it, the worse Tszyu looks. Are these really the actions of an intrepid boxer? Are they the results of a great boxer? Like I say, looking at his many wins, there is no stand-out opponent, & no Gold-class performance. The biggest names between 1996 & 2005, he managed to avoid virtually all of them. Only an ancient Chavez got a run. He didn't even think of sitting down with Mosley, De La Hoya, Forrest, Whitaker, Trinidad.

Maybe that isn't cowardly, but he sure sat quietly in the corner while the other guys made each other rich. That, & these highly suspect defeats & their timing, make Tszyu look pretty bad.

[Goodnight, Irene]

One thing more --- if he was fixing fights, as appears to be the case, should any fighter, no matter how good, be inducted? You have to question the scruples of such a man. That's another factor to digest.

Tsk, tsk

[Counter-puncher]

I don't think I would vote for him personally, but it wont make me sick to my stomach like it will when Gatti gets in.

nicely put

[Seamus]

Will the guys who said YES at least admit that we have quite a few other fighters who deserve to get in the IBHOF first.

[Ambling Alp]

Agree with Barry that his competition was not that impressive.

I think I am on the same page as Seamus.
When he is elected (it is when, not if) he won't be the most undeserving fighter to make it.

However, there are guys who have been waiting for years that are more deserving. There are also some others who fought roughly the same time as him and were better.

[Seamus]

For starters, I'll name two fighters from the same JWW division who are more deserving.

Juan Coggi
Bruno Arcari

[BoxBuzz]

I'm happy to see the numbers here.

I think you're underestimating a great fighter. In skill and in character.

He had a bad night with Phillips it happens
He had a bad ref with Hatton, it happens.
He sewed up the division....not a bad bit of work.



Change the location and the ref for what was to be his last fight, and I honestly doubt Ricky would have had the opportunity to get a beatdown from Money and Pac.
Not that Kostya was going to move up, by that time he was winding down, but I don't think that night was a night where neutrality was king.

[Goodnight, Irene]

It is a shame to see him throw fights though in order to avoid his best contemporaries.

What a morally bankrupt individual

[dempseyfire]

I'm happy to see the numbers here.

I think you're underestimating a great fighter. In skill and in character.

He had a bad night with Phillips it happens
He had a bad ref with Hatton, it happens.
He sewed up the division....not a bad bit of work.



.

What division??

In this day and age of watered down divisions (which manifested itself after the original 7 weight classes muchroomed into 17) being on top of a division for a period of time (in Tsyzu's case just 4 not highly active years) is not in and of itself a 'great' accomplishment. Wlad Klitschko has ruled the HW division for 4 years now beating up on the pedestrian but IMO his lack of any opponent even near the vicinity of 'great' is very damaging in terms of historical rank.

And I disagree about the Hatton fight . . Ricky simply outfought him plain and simple.

[tanibanana]

Yes. but I think he'll be included when the list of qualified inductees for that year is not that deep.
And I hope he will.

[Goodnight, Irene]

What is the eligibility rule again? Is it no fight for six years, or official retirement for six years? I know Benitez was a first-ballot choice in 96, having not fought in six years. What of Tszyu? He hasn't fought since 05, is he eligible from 2011-onwards? Of course, he never announced himself retired until 2008.

[tanibanana]

I think its 5 years of inactivity and no upcoming scheduled fight just for nomination and the following year will be the induction, not that sure.

[Goodnight, Irene]

I think its 5 years of inactivity and no upcoming scheduled fight just for nomination and the following year will be the induction, not that sure.

I was definitely six years in time past. They drop that to five?

[elmersalsa]

I think he is Hall of Fame material. He was the Undisputed World Jr. Welterweight Champion. He was the REAL jr welter champ in his time and beat the best available in his weight class. At least, to me, he did way better than Barry McGuigan, who I cannot understand why he is in the hall of fame.

[allworld80]

There's a special place in hell for the 5 who voted no. :geek2:

[Goodnight, Irene]

LOL.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Why do so many people worry about Barry McGuigan? One mistake means they have to be repeated forever?

What is more pertinent is how Kosta stacks up against guys like Gushiken, Yuh and others that deserved this honor years ago.

[jezzamundo]

It depends how you see the HOF.

Personally for me, Kostya is definitely HOF material. I would personally rate him a smidge below, for example, Lennox Lewis. Both guys who were undiputed champions, made many defenses mostly winning by KO or decisively on points, but never faced another great at their peak. Lennox gets the edge because he avenged his defeats. I have no idea where I would rate Tszyu on an all-time p4p list, but for me he is definitely HOF material.

[BoxBuzz]

It is a shame to see him throw fights though in order to avoid his best contemporaries.

What a morally bankrupt individual

You really think this? Or just being factitious? Seems it would be very hard to make a case for moral bankruptcy. He's been pretty generous with charities with both his money and time. You honestly think he just gave that "0" to Vince that night. Looked like he got caught to me.