By Sam Gregory

13.10 - My personal favorite division in boxing for the last few years is the 140lbs. jr. welterweight division. One of the reasons it’s my favorite is some of the best fights I've ever seen; Ward-Gatti, Judah-Weis, and Tszyu-Judah. It also has soon of the best fighters in boxing today. The undisputed champion of that division being Kostya Tszyu. Since Tszyu’ last successful fight with Ben Tackie, Tszyu’ record of 29-1-1 with 23 KO’s only had 2 blemishes; his one and only loss to Vince Phillips and a draw to a fighter named Leonardo Mas. The fight took place in Las Vegas on the undercard of the De La Hoya-Gonzalez fight on Jan. 18th 1997.

The promoter of Kostya Tszyu, Vlad Walton has done a lot of lobbying to have the draw changed to a no contest. About 6 weeks ago the technical draw has been changed to a no contest removing 1 of the 2 blemishes on Tszyu’ record. Mark Ratner, the director of the Nevada Athletic Commission said; "The ABC (American Boxing Commission) changed the rules on the way they reported on an accidental foul before the 4th round. It is a no contest". Ratner continued; "If you remember the fight, Kostya knocked down Mas twice and was winning the fight very easily and on the break there was an accidental foul and he (Tszyu) broke Mas’ jaw. It was an accident and it was only right to do what we did".

Walton said; "Even Leonardo Mas who we saw at one of my recent promotions told us that Tszyu hit so hard he was happy to settle for a draw. I have been working on it and finally Marc Ratner has been able to finalize it and it is a no contest". Tszyu’ record now reads; 29-1 with 23 KO’s and one no contest".

The first jr. welterweight contest of 2003 will be Jan. 18th of next year when Tszyu takes on Jesse James Leija in Melbourne, Australia where 33 year old Tszyu makes his home debut.