Kostya Tszyu has never been able to watch even one son fight without going absolutely berko.
So what hope with two of them?
In what shapes as a huge first for Australian boxing, brothers Tim and Nikita Tszyu will finally throw down together professionally – and with the old man sat ringside — if a WBO world title fight comes to Australia, as hoped, early in 2023.
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As first revealed by Fox Sports Australia last month, a push is underway to have Tim Tszyu challenge for the WBO interim super welterweight title against either undefeated Russian Bakhram Murtazaliev or American Tony Harrison in March.
The move follows Tszyu’s hyped January showdown against unified king Jermell Charlo being postponed after the American suffered a broken hand during preparations.
As a result, Tszyu’s promoter No Limit is not only now pushing the WBO for an interim title fight against either Murtazaliev or Harrison in Australia, but wants both siblings on the same card and their Hall of Fame father ringside.
To ensure he is ready for such a scenario, Nikita Tszyu will jet off to the States on Tuesday to join both his brother and coach Igor Goloubev in their own Las Vegas training camp.
Speaking with Fox Sports before departing, the younger Tszyu confirmed he would be fighting for the first time on Tim’s undercard if the Aussie title fight goes ahead.
He also suggested dad Kostya, who was set to attend the unified title fight in Las Vegas, would likely be in the crowd to watch not one, but two sons fight on the same card.
But as for how Nikita thinks dad would go watching both boys, especially given Tim described their Hall of Fame father as “out of control” when ringside for his own 2016 pro debut against Zorran Cassady?
“Ah, I’d actually be more worried about my grandfather,” Nikita laughed of his pop, Boris. “He’s the main stress head.
“So it might be him that explodes.
“Because it definitely is tough watching someone in your family fight.
“So to watch two of them?
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“For my grandma, my mum, my grandfather, my dad … if it happens everyone is going to be sweating with stress.
“(Laughs) But I guess that’s not my problem.”
Nikita also revealed his famous father had seen him fight only once live, back in his amateur days.
“And I honestly don’t even remember what it was like,” he continued.
“I guess as long as I don’t hear dad screaming crazily, I’m fine. Although I’m not sure he even has a choice.”
Asked about the idea of potentially fighting on the same night his brother competes for a world title, the younger Tszyu continued: “I understand the benefits — the exposure, being part of such a massive event … so hopefully everything falls into place and it can happen.
“Our family, we’re so intertwined.
“Boxing is what we’ve grown up with.
“It’s what we’ll die with.
“But the idea of fighting on the same card, it’s actually not something I’ve ever preferred.”
And why?
“It’s to do with the attention of our uncle,” Nikita continued of Goloubev, who trains both brothers.
“With a boxing fight, there is so much going on and I think it could be selfish to put your own needs in front of somebody else’s.
“So personally I’d prefer if our trainer’s attention was undivided into the one mind, and the one opponent that needs to be conquered.
“But if Igor is confident he can do both, I have full faith in him.
“But as somebody who doesn’t multi-task well, I don’t really understand it.”
As part of his trip to the States, Tszyu will train alongside his brother in the world’s fight capital while also undertaking sparring sessions with high-calibre opponents. Elsewhere, the boxer also wants to make a special detour to San Francisco so that he can spend some time in California’s famed Redwood forests.
“Because I’m absolutely obsessed by them,” Nikita revealed of the ancient trees.
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“When I was involved in architecture, I researched them like crazy.
“I’ll be in the States for my birthday, so I want to immerse myself among those mammoth trees that have been around for thousands of years.
“It just puts things into perspective.
“How insignificant we are. And how short our life is on this earth.
“So to be standing among those goliaths … being free, separated from the man made world, it’s something I’m really excited for.”
