Nikita Tszyu raises eyebrows with bizarre birthing story after Aussie stops Lulzim Ismaili in one round

News.com.au

10 hours ago

Nikita Tszyu's return fight was highly anticipated, but in the end, his bizarre and graphic post-fight speech lasted longer and made more headlines than the bout itself.
On Wednesday night, Tszyu scored a one-sided first-round stoppage win over Lulzim Ismaili, who was dropped in the first before refusing to get off his stool to start the second.
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After travelling from Germany, Ismaili was completely outclassed and overpowered by the man known as 'The Butcher'.
Ismaili was dropped with a huge left hand in the opening round, and moments after it looked as if he would be stopped as he turned his back and tried to protect himself before escaping back to the ropes
A patient Tszyu then went hard to the body, breaking Ismaili's rib with the last punch of the first round. And from the moment he sat on the stool, everyone in the arena knew he wasn't going to get back up.
But any fan who immediately felt they had been short-changed in entertainment due to the short bout was soon mistaken as Tszyu went on a wild rant, starting with a truly bizarre baby birthing story and ending with revealing he missed his rival Michael Zerafa's fight because he was going to the bathroom.
Tszyu raised plenty of eyebrows last week when he revealed his wife's placenta in capsule form, and breast milk was part of his pre-fight diet.
And when asked if he had a message for his baby Curiosity – who is named after a NASA Mars rover – Tszyu revealed his walkout song choice was actually a nod to her.
Walking out initially to The Undertaker's theme, and then Thunderstruck by ACDC, that may seem like a weird dedication on the surface, but Tszyu revealed the ACDC song was actually the first thing the baby heard.
'Thunderstruck is the song she came out to as we were having her,' Tszyu revealed post-fight.
But it soon got even weirder.
'As we were having a C-section, I had the nurse play it,' Tszyu continued, before explaining how that was why he walked out with his eyes closed.
'I was thinking about Curiosity,' he said.
'Seeing her naked body being pulled out of my wife.'
You can watch his full post-fight interview in the player at the top of the page.
Unsurprisingly, announcer Ben Damon was keen to move on from that conversation as he asked Tszyu about his troublesome hand and return to the ring before asking about his rival Zerafa.
When asked about what he thought of Zerafa's performance on Wednesday night, after the journeyman demolished American Mikey Dahlman in the co-main, Tszyu said he didn't see it.
'I went for a piss during Zerafa's fight to be honest,' Tszyu said on Main Event.
'I came back and f**k, it was over.'
However, a match-up between the pair is becoming increasingly likely, with Zerafa calling out both Tim and Nikita Tszyu for years.
'It's a very dangerous fight. There are a lot of question marks with me with my experience, he's very experienced,' Tszyu continued.
'But you've got to test yourself. There's no way to improve without beating someone who's better than you.'