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When Kostya Tszyu left his family, boxing also left.
Ten years ago, the legendary former world champion returned to Russia to start a new life. He left behind his wife, Natalia, and their three children, Tim, Nikita and Anastasia. He was remarried to a model / PR executive and his former employee, Tatiana Averina, with whom he now has two children (Aleksandr and Viktoria).
Tim tszyu was born to fight and raised in the gym. He learned the brutal ways that made his father a champion.
So when Kostya was no longer there, with what Tim describes as his “control freak,” there was a feeling of liberation. Boxing was not to be his destiny. He briefly quit the sport as a teenager, despite his promises.
“I lost a lot of motivation, I guess,” Tszyu told Wide World of Sports.
“Plus, I just needed a break. I wasn’t really in love with it anymore. She became my ex-girlfriend for a while.
“Just a little bit of freedom. Growing up with dad, he was a boxer. He was a pretty tough man. Very disciplined. So once he left, boxing kind of disappeared from our lives.”
Last year Natalia gave a brutal account of what those days were like.
“Kostya has never been in the lives of children, Kostya disappeared from the lives of children when he left them very young. Children have built their lives without their father,” she told the Daily Mail. “I know some people won’t want to hear this, but it’s the truth.”
Tszyu wanted to know if there was anything else there. He enrolled in a business degree. Still, boxing gradually pulled him back.
“I was growing up and I was lost and I didn’t know what I wanted in my life,” Tszyu said.
“Experienced with college. Experienced with gymnasium. Just wanted to see what my passion was and what I wanted to do in the future.”
“When I came back, I started training kids. And then it’s like an addiction, it comes back one step at a time. Then I decided to go pro.”
Tszyu made his professional debut at 22, against Zorran Cassady in December 2016 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He did it himself, without his father, but the morning before the fight he felt someone grab him from behind while he was having breakfast … and it was Kostya.
It was a big surprise, the first time Tim had seen his father in four years, but it was also a puzzle. Tszyu Jr later described it, quite affectionately, as a “pain in the ass”; the old control freak coming out again.
Having once been the leader of his son’s career, Kostya was just a visitor but couldn’t help but impose himself in the fight. He was demanding with the Tszyu Jr team beforehand. During the bout, a six-round unanimous decision victory, Kostya’s screaming Russian accent was the only voice Tim could hear in the ring.
Tim was understanding, considering it was the first time his father had watched his son fight professionally. But not only was Kostya never in ringside again, but he never saw another of Tim’s fights in the next four years.
He still watches from Moscow, a proud but distant father who hopes to see his son also become world champion. Next up is Wednesday night’s super welterweight fight against Dennis Hogan in Newcastle.
There is no hard feelings. Tszyu Sr and Jr remain in regular contact. But Tim, now 26, is her own man and her own fighter.
He pursues his own destiny. And now he understands why Kostya left his family behind. Kostya has been forgiven.
“I have never been against him,” said Tim Tszyu.
“Boxing is a tough life and there is always another afterlife for boxers. Many boxers after they finish they get lost in life.
“Fortunately for my father, in Russia they treated him like a king and he remembers it there. He didn’t have that here.
“Unfortunately here in Australia we forget our athletes. That’s how it is in Australia. In Russia it’s not like that. You are remembered in the history books, you are treated. like someone special. ”
“When you’ve been treated like this your whole life it’s hard to live a life where you’re forgotten, so I understand my dad. My father now lives a quiet life and he is really happy.
“It was the main thing I wanted for my dad, it was just to live a low-key life and be happy.”
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