By Bradley Dee: Every once in a while in boxing comes a special figure, a brighter burning light, a talent with unique abilities, and one of those was Kostya Tszyu. Known aptly as “The Thunder from Down Under”, Kostya possessed incredible boxing ability, as well as vaunted power in both hands. For a sample of the talent of this man, check out his fight against Vernon Forrest in the amateurs from 1991. Tszyu defeated Forrest in the finals to win the light welterweight Gold.
Tearing through opponents became the norm until 1997 when Superman met his Kryptonite labeled as Vince Phillips. Phillips, very much in the fight and winning on one scorecard, TKOd Tszyu in round 10. Phillips hit Tszyu with a couple of huge right hands, hurting him over and over, then finishing him off with 3 or 4 unanswered right hands. This was a never-avenged loss, which in my humble opinion, should have been taken care of before moving forward. What was the reason it wasn’t? At this point one can only speculate as to why, but Tszyu moved forward with what was to become a pretty amazing career, including the now famous Chicken Dance on Zab Judah. Things were great, until he tangled with Ricky Hatton in 2005 for a highly anticipated fight.
Ricky, in his prime, took the fight to Tszyu, made it physical, and made Tszyu quit. He did everything right, although some say in a very dirty fight. That was the end of Kostya Tszyu. He never fought again.
Although comeback rumors fly around all the time, nothing has materialized, and now at his current age, this is a good thing. Tszyu said in 2010 in an appearance on Long Lunch Today that he was not retired, and in fact, would come back if he could fight Mosley, Pacquiao, or Mayweather. Fortunately this has not happened, and he has remained “retired”. I feel at this advanced age, he could win against journeymen, but he could not beat any of the top welters or jr. welters. It might look like Hatton’s attempted comeback.
Maybe in 2005 he should have continued, and I would have even enjoyed a rematch with Hatton, or a fight with one of the other top names in the division at the time. Could Tszyu have continued winning? That is debatable, after quitting on his stool, some ring wars, and his advanced age, it was only matter of time before the thunder left Tszyu. It reminds me of the career of Naseem Hahmed who walked away from boxing shortly after losing to Marco Antonio Barerra, never officially retiring, and promising comebacks that never happened.
Despite never coming back, he has quite a few past fans that can still appreciate “The Thunder from Down Under” and his career, I being one of them.
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