Los Angeles: About an hour’s drive from Hollywood Boulevard, Tim Tszyu has just finished a gruelling training session.
As the gloves come off, Joe Goosen, a legendary American trainer and analyst who has given Tszyu exclusive access to his gym in Van Nuys, notices a patch of blood on the Australian’s knuckles as the wraps come off.
Tim Tszyu is fully focused during his Los Angeles training camp.Credit:No Limit
“I’ll tell you what that’s from – you only get your knuckles scraped up like that when you hit the heavy bag hard,” Goosen says. “That’s what he has been doing.”
The Ten Goose Boxing Gym and a nondescript house in Ventura County, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, have been Tszyu’s homes while he has been away from Australia. The training camp to prepare for his undisputed super-welterweight world title showdown against Jermell Charlo has the potential to catapult the 28-year-old into the sort of stratosphere of the names on the nearby Hollywood Walk of Fame, but there is nothing glamorous about the work being undertaken now.
“Look at his face,” Goosen says as he points to Tszyu finishing his workout with a series of crunches. “He is working. That there is a guy on a mission.”
Goosen would know. He pitched in one of his best fighters, Rafael Ruelas, against Kostya Tszyu more than 20 years ago. It didn’t end well for Ruelas. Now Kostya’s son is in his gym and the memories come flooding back.
“If you didn’t know any better, you’d think it was Kostya – a bigger version of him,” Goosen said. “He is very similar in looks. The question is, can he fight like the old man? Having watched enough film of Tim, I’d say undoubtedly so.
“He has a lot of his father’s qualities. One of them being that straight right hand. Wow. That thing is good.”
Tszyu jnr has been using it to good effect during sparring sessions. His opponent, Charlo, is a twin so it seems appropriate that another pair of promising twins, Justin and Jason Bell, have been taking turns in sharpening up “The Soul Taker”. Tszyu wants to prepare himself for Charlo with work against bigger bodies and the siblings, who have about a six-kilogram advantage as super-middleweights, fit the mould perfectly.
“He’s come to America from Australia for the biggest shot of his life. It’s like a Netflix type of story,” Justin Bell says.
Jason adds: “He’s fighting a twin and we’re twins, it’s like a movie. I’ve got him for the win. You will see.”
Tim Tszyu with trainer Igor Goloubev and chef Omar Iferd in Los Angeles.Credit:No Limit Boxing
Tszyu is leaving nothing to chance. He is basing himself in the United States for more than two months before the fight. The expense to do so – including the use of a personal chef, accommodation, flights and the cost of allowing a small contingent of travelling Australian media to cover the historic journey – could potentially amount to as much as $500,000.
“It’s a big investment, but if you want to take it to the next level, that’s what you have to do,” Tszyu says. “Money comes and goes, but you have to invest in yourself.”
This is a very different version of Tszyu to the one who last visited the United States in March, when he beat Terrell Gausha in Minneapolis. On that occasion Tszyu – due to a number of factors stemming from visa complications to ill health in the lead up – meant the literal hit-and-run mission was a rushed affair.
“Completely different – we are doing things much smarter now,” Tszyu says. “Everything is much more professional.
“I feel I am in control. That’s what I want to prove – and not get hit.”
Tim Tszyu
“I won’t be fighting with emotions, I’m fighting with my brains. I feel calm and collected. Everything was a rush before, it was 100 miles an hour. I’ve been able to sit down and think here.
“This isn’t a training camp – I started this a long time ago. The switch went on after [hand] surgery when I started training for this fight eight months ago.”
There is a purpose behind everything. Tszyu keeps a diary, monitoring every aspect of his preparation from sleep patterns, eating habits, to how his breathing changes.
“Everything is so scientific right now,” he says. “It’s crazy how obsessed I am about it.”
Tim Tszyu enjoys some rare down time on Venice Beach.Credit:No Limit Boxing
And, yet, he has been good company in what will be the biggest occasion of his life. In recent months, he’s been relaxed and happy to chat, giving the Herald and Age any number of eye-popping headlines: I’ll become the heavyweight champion of the world; Jermell Charlo the “shitter version” of his twin brother Jermall; I guarantee a knockout victory.
A few weeks ago, he said with conviction: “For this fight I feel bulletproof. I actually feel like I can pick up a car and carry it down the road. I feel like Hulk. It’s crazy. It’s a good feeling.”
When The Sun-Herald and Sunday Age sat down with him on Friday afternoon [local time], sitting on a sunchair in his LA hideaway, a relaxed Tszyu wasn’t in the mood for bold predictions.
“I feel I am in control,” he says. “That’s what I want to prove – and not get hit.”
Tim Tszyu is based in the US for his super-welterweight world title showdown against Jermell Charlo next month.Credit:No Limit Boxing.
The last statement is a telling one. Against Gausha, Tszyu was careless and got tagged early. The Sydneysider rose from the canvas and ultimately got the job done, but a similar mistake against Charlo will shatter his dreams.
“From the last fight, we need to do a bit more practice on defence – we found a few mistakes,” says Tszyu’s trainer and uncle, Igor Goloubev.
“We need to practise and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Gausha and Charlo will be similar tactically, how they box from distance. We start looking at what holes Charlo has and what kind of punches we can find to achieve the victory.
“We will take time to polish the punches and combinations, what we’re doing there.”
Tszyu knows that this is his time. That if he pulls off an upset win and becomes just the ninth undisputed champion in the four-belt era, that it will be one of the greatest achievements by an Australian athlete.
“It would have to be in the top three, that’s for sure,” Tszyu says.
“For me, fighting for the undisputed is equivalent to winning the FIFA World Cup final, scoring that last goal. I feel like that’s what it’s equivalent to.”
Now that would be a Hollywood ending.
Adrian Proszenko travelled to Los Angeles as a guest of No Limit Boxing.
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