Latest news with #NikitaTszyu
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Nikita Tszyu shares why he gave up his white-collar job to follow in the footsteps of his father and brother
Nikita Tszyu has opened up for the first time on 'the spiritual awakening' that saw him walk away from a comfortable career as an architect and dive back into the cut-throat world of boxing, revealing he needs the sport as an outlet to unleash 'a darkness I've always had inside me'. Tszyu, who fights Lulzim Ismaili at the ICC Convention Theatre in Sydney on Wednesday, followed his father and older brother into the sport in March 2022 after an eight-year hiatus. Over that time, the middle child of Kostya and Natasha Tszyu studied to become an architect, and worked for several years at global firm Woods Bagot. From the outside looking in, he was set up for life, but white collar work wasn't fulfilling. Worse, he didn't have a way to channel what he describes as 'the dark thoughts' racing around his head. 'I've never spoken about this before, but I had a spiritual experience that showed me my true desires in life,' Tszyu, Australian boxing's dark prince told CODE Sports after tipping the scales at 69.48kg on Tuesday afternoon. 'It was a vision of pain and suffering, darkness and evil thoughts. 'At that stage of my life, it was showing me the things I desired most in life, and that was inflicting pain, and being a little devil. 'It was essentially the feelings I get from boxing. 'So I knew I'd regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't pursue boxing while I still could.' Tszyu says he can't go into greater detail on his awakening, but he knew boxing was the answer. 'Boxing is the legal way to unleash it,' he says with a grin. 'I used to party a lot to get it out. I'd go out with friends, and I'd f**k with people. Back in architecture school, I used to mess with people all the time – pranks and stuff.' Tszyu pursued his architecture career with the same obsessiveness he now approaches boxing, and there are stories of him staying awake for two days straight to complete various projects and designs. He doesn't like to think about how his dark desires would have manifested themselves if he hadn't rediscovered boxing. 'It wouldn't be good,' he says bluntly. He also doesn't know where it comes from. 'No idea,' he shrugs. 'I've just always had this darkness in me. 'Thank God my parents loved me and gave me attention, otherwise I don't know how I would have ended up.' Still just 10 fights into his professional career, Tszyu's showdown with Ismaili ends a one-year lay-off as he recovered from hand surgery. He also got married (he made the rings for him and his wife, also named Nikita, himself in his garage), and welcomed the birth of his first child, a daughter named Curiosity. His long-awaited comeback is also the first step in Tszyu's path towards bigger fights on grander stages against overseas opponents. The American market is an obvious go-to for his promoter No Limit, but Tszyu lets his team make all those calls. His own goals in boxing, unsurprisingly, remain much more personal. 'I want to be able to buy a property of land, get a whole bunch of animals, buy a whole bunch of Japanese tools, build my own house and live out there with my wife and kids,' he says. 'If world titles come, they come, but I'm not necessarily chasing them. 'I'm not materialistic, so I'll probably give them away anyway. I'm very simple.' Thankfully for his darker instincts, that goal of owning a property in the mountains somewhere west of Sydney will also keep him occupied once he can no longer fight. 'I'm just going for it now, because this is all just temporary,' he says. 'I can only do this until I'm 35, and then the body gives in, it's all over and I have to think of a different outlet. 'Once boxing is done, my plan is to have that side of me released through being on a farm with animals and out in the wilderness. 'I want to use that darkness to feed my family.'
News.com.au
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Furious Zerafa fires back, threatens legal action after press conference drama
A furious Michael Zerafa has threatened legal action against Australian promoters No Limit after a bizarre run of events that saw him fail to attend a press conference promoting Wednesday night's hyped Sydney showcase. In a statement released to Instagram page, Zerafa added to a morning of intrigue after he was initially declared a mysterious no-show at a press event attended by the likes of Nikita Tszyu -- who is back headlining the event after a year off -- plus Brock Jarvis and Brandon Grach. The Zerafa absence was the biggest story of the Monday press event, and revived memories of his famed 2021 fight cancellation against Tim Tszyu. Yet the fighter dubbed Pretty Boy said that, rather than going AWOL, he was told by No Limit to stay away, and suggested he had been defamed after it was hinted that he had decided not to attend. In his statement, Zerafa started: 'Let me make this very clear. 'At 9:41am, I received a call from No Limit telling me I was no longer required at the press conference. When I asked why, the response was vague 'we've had to make some changes'. No further explanation. 'We knew it didn't sit right, so we released a statement two hours before the press conference, laying out the facts. 'Still, they went ahead and falsely told national TV and streaming audiences that I 'no showed'. That is not just dishonest, it's defamation. 'You cannot remove someone, then publicly shame them for not being there. That's a direct attack on my integrity, my professionalism, and my name. And that has real consequences. 'I've spent years building a brand I'm proud of and I won't sit back while others try to damage my reputation to serve their own narrative. This attempt to damage my reputation is serious and it won't be ignored. Our legal team has now been contacted. Enough is enough.' The drama started around midday on Monday when it became obvious Zerafa wasn't in attendance for what was expected to be an explosive press conference showdown with Nikita Tszyu – and only 24 hours after accusing The Butcher of embarrassing his Hall of Fame father Kostya. Asked about the fighter's absence, No Limit boss George Rose didn't shed any light on the situation however did stress that the world ranked middleweight would be in attendance for Tuesday's weigh-ins. The bizarre chain of events came as both Zerafa and the younger Tszyu sibling were expected to use the event -- and Wednesday card -- to springboard into a massive domestic grudge match in December. A bout between the pair would continue a long-running feud between the Melburnian and Australia's most famous fight family. On Wednesday night, Zerafa takes on American Mikey Dahlman (18-1), while Tszyu headlines against undefeated European prospect Lulzim Ismaili (12-0). Should they both win, No Limit are keen to have the two rivals square off in a stadium show. Over the weekend, Zerafa suggested Nikita Tszyu's increasingly weird behaviour was an embarrassment to everything his famous dad Kostya had built.
The Age
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Eating his wife's placenta and drinking breast milk: The weird world of Nikita Tszyu
Nikita Tszyu will consume a double dose of his wife's placenta before returning to the boxing ring on Wednesday night for his first bout in 12 months. Washing it down with her breast milk is an optional extra. Tszyu's bizarre dietary habits have provided plenty of food for thought as the unbeaten 27-year-old prepares to take on German-based Macedonian Lulzim Ismaili at the ICC Sydney Theatre in their WBO intercontinental super-welterweight title fight. Since his daughter Curiosity was born two months ago, Tszyu has joined his wife – also named Nikita – in consuming her placenta. 'My wife found out about it,' he explained. 'She found out that there's a lot of ancient cultures that harvest the placenta, and it was packed with all these vitamins. And she asked me and I was like, 'Hell yeah.' 'We just got it freeze-dried by some hippie lady, and she gave us a bunch of capsules of it.' Tszyu said he takes two pills at a time but has to 'ration' them, because of the limited supply. 'I've got to wait until the next baby so I can get some more,' he said. 'I can't just smash through them.'
The Age
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Eating his wife's placenta and drinking her breast milk: the weird world of Nikita Tszyu
Nikita Tszyu will consume a double dose of his wife's placenta before returning to the boxing ring on Wednesday night for his first bout in 12 months. Washing it down with her breast milk is an optional extra. Tszyu's bizarre dietary habits have provided plenty of food for thought as the unbeaten 27-year-old prepares to take on German-based Macedonian Lulzim Ismaili at the ICC Sydney Theatre in their WBO intercontinental super-welterweight title fight. Since his daughter Curiosity was born two months ago, Tszyu has joined his wife – also named Nikita – in consuming her placenta. 'My wife found out about it,' he explained. 'She found out that there's a lot of ancient cultures that harvest the placenta, and it was packed with all these vitamins. And she asked me and I was like, 'Hell yeah.' 'We just got it freeze-dried by some hippie lady, and she gave us a bunch of capsules of it.' Tszyu said he takes two pills at a time but has to 'ration' them, because of the limited supply. 'I've got to wait until the next baby so I can get some more,' he said. 'I can't just smash through them.'
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Eating his wife's placenta and drinking breast milk: The weird world of Nikita Tszyu
Nikita Tszyu will consume a double dose of his wife's placenta before returning to the boxing ring on Wednesday night for his first bout in 12 months. Washing it down with her breast milk is an optional extra. Tszyu's bizarre dietary habits have provided plenty of food for thought as the unbeaten 27-year-old prepares to take on German-based Macedonian Lulzim Ismaili at the ICC Sydney Theatre in their WBO intercontinental super-welterweight title fight. Since his daughter Curiosity was born two months ago, Tszyu has joined his wife – also named Nikita – in consuming her placenta. 'My wife found out about it,' he explained. 'She found out that there's a lot of ancient cultures that harvest the placenta, and it was packed with all these vitamins. And she asked me and I was like, 'Hell yeah.' 'We just got it freeze-dried by some hippie lady, and she gave us a bunch of capsules of it.' Tszyu said he takes two pills at a time but has to 'ration' them, because of the limited supply. 'I've got to wait until the next baby so I can get some more,' he said. 'I can't just smash through them.'
