Things not thread worthy

[Maxy]

BrutalBodyShots Wrote:I respect his decision, but completely disagree with you suggesting he was way past his best. Referencing Holyfield or Jones Jr in the same sentence with Tszyu is completely inaccurate and borderline disrespectful to Tszyu. Those guys fought/are fighting over a DECADE removed from their primes, in Holyfield's case nearly 2 DECADES. Both of those guys were beaten up and stopped on different occasions. Completely different than Tszyu who fought a nearly even fight with Hatton and prior to that had taken essentially no damage in his career with respect to the average prize fighter.

Obviously by definition any time a guy retires (even if he's 24 years old, in his prime and undefeated) it's time for him to retire... because that decision to retire proves that he's not mentally 100% as far as fighting goes. If he was, he wouldn't retire. However, that doesn't mean that the guy that retires didn't still have a ton of potential left in his career. That's how I felt about Tszyu. I felt like even though he accomplished a ton and is an ATG at 140 he physically had plenty left in the tank to further cement his legacy. Like I already mentioned, a rematch with Hatton was a very winnable fight for him, as were other potential fights at that time. Losing your last fight typically isn't the way fighters like to go out, and as fans we don't like to see that either usually... but especially quitting in your last fight... and especially if there's only 1 round left in it and it's a very close contest.

I never said he was way past his best, I said he was past his best. I believe his best days were behind him and at 35, after such a brutal fight, it's not going to be as easy to come back as it would be for a younger man. Kostya didn't quit either, his corner pulled him out. I'm glad you fell into the Holyfield and Jones trap because, although the pair of them are a long, long way past their best, pretty much everybody with any sense on this, or any other board, wanted them to retire years ago. Years ago. Thus why I mentioned them because you have to ask yourself, how many more fights is too many fights? It's speculative on both our parts to be 100% certain regarding Tszyu's retirement but I'll always believe he made the right decision. No, he hadn't been involved in too many wars but that night was brutally hard for both men and a 35 year old man is going to suffer longer and recover slower than a younger man in his prime.