{"id":935,"date":"2023-11-02T05:57:09","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T02:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/935\/bf8008664e40fa1f668b77ee485d07bd\/"},"modified":"2023-10-14T05:05:50","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T02:05:50","slug":"bf8008664e40fa1f668b77ee485d07bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/?p=935","title":{"rendered":"Tim Tszyu\u2019s relationship with dad Kostya, takes his posters down off family gym, Brian Mendoza fight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tim Tszyu has opened up about his complex relationship with his father Kostya as he prepares for another fight with his old man on the other side of the world.<\/p>\n

Tszyu (23-0, 17 KOs) faces American Brian Mendoza on the Gold Coast on Sunday and is the heavy favorite to win his third fight of the year in what is expected to be his final fight on home soil.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old is defending his WBO super welterweight belt and is currently just one of four Australian world champion boxers, along with Jai Opetaia, Andrew Moloney and Ebanie Bridges.<\/p>\n

Boxing: Tszyu vs Mendoza SUNDAY OCT 15 12pm AEDT | Order now with the Main Event on Kayo Sports<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

But Tszyu has bigger fish to fish than Mendoza. His hopes of becoming unified world champion were dashed when trash-talking American Jermell Charlo ended their fight.<\/p>\n

While Tszyu would love to beat Charlo one day, his camp says Charlo has had his chance and the undefeated Australian is aiming for superfights against boxing megastars Errol Spence, Terrence Crawford and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.<\/p>\n

If he can beat them, Tszyu will go down in history as one of the greatest Australian boxers of all time, alongside his world champion father Kostya and Jeff Fenech.<\/p>\n

Tszyu has a complex relationship with his father, who hasn’t had a ringside seat to one of his son’s fights in several years and now watches Tim’s fights via FaceTime.<\/p>\n

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Tim Tszyu fights Brian Mendoza on Sunday. Photo: Glenn Hampson<\/span>Source: News Corp Australia<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His mother Natalia and grandfather Boris remain very present in Tim’s life after Kostya left his wife and children to start<\/a> a second family in Russia more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Tszyu previously explained that his father was “never there for us” during his childhood as he prepared to uproot the family and move to Russia.<\/p>\n

Tim is clearly proud of his father’s accomplishments and the work ethic he instilled in him, proudly displaying a shrine to Kostya’s boxing career in his childhood home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess Dad’s success set an example for us: where we wanted to be and what we wanted to do,\u201d Tim told Sporting News.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about having Grandpa\u2019s support.\u201d He never missed any of my fights, even among the amateurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just need people who are true to themselves and to me and I\u2019m true to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he also intends to make a name for himself in boxing after spending his entire career listening to his opponents claim he was only in the spotlight because of his last name.<\/p>\n

Tszyu said after his victory over Jeff Horn: \u201cI want everyone to know my name is Tim, not my son. \u00bb<\/p>\n

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Tim and Kostya Tszyu in their family gym with old fight posters in the background. (Photo by Mark Evans\/Getty Images)<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He talks to his father before every fight but takes Kostya’s boxing advice with a pinch of salt.<\/p>\n

When asked on the Hello Sport podcast if he ever gets tired of his father telling him how to fight an opponent, Tszyu replied: \u201cA lot of the time actually, especially as you get older.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad forgets sometimes. Of course I respect what he did, but we’re in a different era now. We do things differently.<\/p>\n

He says one thing and I’m like, ‘No, I’m not doing that, I’m going to do it my way.’ He’s like, ‘No man<\/a>, you can’t do it that way,’ and I’m like, ‘Man, I’m doing it my way.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou haven\u2019t lived here for 20 years dad, it\u2019s okay man, I got it, don\u2019t worry about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I respect his opinion, what he experienced and did. He hasn’t been back for a long time.<\/p>\n

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Kostya Tszyu is one of Australia’s greatest boxers. Credit: Jed Jacobsohn\/ALLSPORT<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Kostya now lives in Russia with his new family. Photo: Jed Jacobsohn\/Allsport<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tszyu also took another step toward separating himself from his famous father by removing promotional posters from Kostya’s legendary fights and relegating a handful of them to a section of the family gym.<\/p>\n

The modest brick-walled gym in the Sydney suburb of Rockdale is to be renamed the Tszyu Boxing Academy and is now adorned with fight posters of Tim and his brother Nikita.<\/p>\n

Tszyu is also aware of not becoming “like my father” and chewing out his younger brother’s ear with boxing advice.<\/p>\n

Nikita, 25, fights in the same super welterweight division as Tim and will face Australian champion Dylan Biggs in November in his toughest test yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to give him some advice, but I don’t want to be like my dad, basically,\u201d Tim said of giving his brother boxing advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I always took that into consideration. I always just say, \u201cYou should do this man.\u201d I usually say, \u201cThis is how I feel better, this is what I do.\u201d See how you feel.<\/p>\n

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Tim Tszyu with his younger brother Nikita, who is also a professional boxer. (Photo by Chris Hyde\/Getty Images)<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Providing insight into Kostya’s brutally tough approach to fatherhood, “losing wasn’t an option” for him, even as a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came second in cross country. I came home, told my dad you know, I came second,\u201d Tim recalls.<\/p>\n

“He looked at me and said, ‘Man, that’s not good enough.’ He had me running from 3rd to 4th grade, waking up at 5:15 a.m. before school three times a week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, sometimes that\u2019s the last thing I want to do!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember I was emotional when I was racing, I had breathing problems because I was losing. Then years 4, 5 and 6 came first each time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how we were. Losing was not an option. Second place is not an achievement. But habits have simply been instilled in us.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad was a rock star back in the day. I could see it. Everyone recognized him. He had the Bentleys, the mansion, he had all that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we lived in a Soviet-style system where training had to be 100 percent assured. It all depends on how you’re raised, I guess.<\/p>\n

You get the feeling that Tim won’t be fully satisfied until he’s a unified world champion to completely step out of Kostya’s shadow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n