Tszyu, No Limit Boxing: Who’s who in huge Las Vegas entourage
There is the small crew around Tim Tszyu, and then the group surrounding No Limit Boxing that has taken Las Vegas by storm. Together, they have made Tszyu one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet. Now, find out who they are.
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There is the small crew around Tim Tszyu that is impenetrable, and then there is the loud ragtag group surrounding No Limit Boxing that has taken Las Vegas by storm.
Somehow, these two groups have helped make Tszyu one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet, and a multimillionaire.
Should Tszyu defeat Sebastian Fundora to win the WBO and WBC super-welterweight titles, he’ll earn close to $15 million for his next fight, against either Errol Spence Jr or Terence Crawford.
No Limit – headed by brothers George, Matt and Trent Rose – have used their uncanny talent for promotion to create a show around Tszyu.
And while the 29-year-old boxer lives for the bright lights and glory, 90 per cent of his life is spent in gyms, parks, saunas and at home on the couch or in bed.
Tszyu v Fundora + Zerafa v Lara LIVE from Las Vegas | SUN 31 MAR 11AM AEDT | Exclusive to Main Event, order on Kayo Sports. No Kayo subscription needed.
Tszyu deliberately keeps his circle small when in camp, spending most of his time with personal chef Omar Iferd, brother Nikita Tszyu, uncle and trainer Igor Goloubev and manager Glen Jennings.
Rounding out his crew is his personal physician, Dr Bill Anseline, Mark Gambin - the cutman who also works with Tszyu on his strength and conditioning, and David Barker, Tszyu’s nutritionist.
No Limit rolls differently.
They have dozens of family members and friends in Vegas this week, and generally wherever there is a show going.
From the little town of Walgett to the world stage, they like to bring the mob along for the ride.
Former NRL star George Rose, chief executive of No Limit, is tasked with dealing with rival promoters and managers to land major fights for Tszyu and their growing stable of fighters.
Jennings is the man in charge of Tszyu’s day-to-day preparation and his expanding business empire.
Tszyu is the boss of what he calls this “wolf pack”, and sees a possible silver lining in his legendary father Kostya deciding against attending this fight.
“Everyone works together, nobody steps on anyone’s toes, that’s the biggest thing about our dynamic,” Tszyu told this masthead.
“Becoming your own man happens with age and time, with maturity and age.
“That’s the whole thing about if Dad did come, how does he really treat me? Who he used to remember, or who I am now?
“I’ve grown into an alpha, into a leader of a wolf pack, so I feel a big responsibility.”
Rose said of the dynamic between Team Tszyu and No Limit: “The key similarity between the two is family; everything we do, and the people around us, are family and have been with us from the start. Everything we do is for our family, we want to build with them.
“It’s the same with the Tszyu family, their family business is boxing. Between uncle Igor and grandfather Boris, Nikita jumping back in the ring, the tight knit group they have, everybody here with them is family.
“Everybody in my circle is family too. It’s funny you know, everybody gets along, but I feel like the promotional side of it and the boxing training side of it are two very separate things.
“I try to separate the two teams from that, because when we’re out here trying to make noise, they’re at a point where they’re cutting weight and focusing on the discipline side of it.
“There’s a real juxtaposition between the two.”
Jennings, who helped Kostya through the latter stages of his career, marvels at Tszyu’s evolution.
“It was 2017, we had a meeting in North Sydney and he asked if I’d manage him,” Jennings said.
“He’d never had a pro fight, he was thinking about it. He was skinny, shy, what you’d expect of a kid that age, who was about to leap into a realm of boxing dynasty.
“Even though Kostya had been gone for a long time, the last name in itself was like having something weighing on you.
“I asked him why he was doing it, and he said, ‘I want to see how good I can be’. He never once said to me, ‘I want to be as good as Dad, I want to be better than Dad’.
“Kostya was gone, he’s in Russia and the boys are home with Mum in Sydney, and they were lost for a while, they didn’t know exactly what they wanted to do.
“Tim goes back into the gym and ultimately, the funniest story, the reason he decided to turn pro was because he watched the movie Creed. The movie Creed inspired him to want to be a pro.
“He called me, I said ‘Let’s do it’, we shook hands and so the journey began.
“The evolution of Tim Tszyu – he couldn’t look at a camera, he didn’t know how to. I used to stand behind the cameraman with a cheat sheet, told him ‘Just look at me’.
“It took him a long time to grasp celebrity. And celebrity started immediately because of his name, because of who his father was.
“So there was this immature young fella trying to find his way, and should’ve been granted the opportunity to find his way in a normal fashion but it was never going to happen because Tim was under the spotlight.
“Wherever he went, whoever he fought, it was, ‘Is Tim as good as his Dad?’ That lasted for a couple of years, I told him, ‘Keep going, the marketing and branding we’re doing is starting to work, we’re developing a fan base’.
“For the first 12, 13 fights, we travelled all around, country and regional areas, we fought in New Zealand, we took this young man to the masses and let them form an attachment, and reattach him with the old Kostya fans.”
The contract with No Limit would prove to be one of the most important deals signed in Australian boxing history, for both parties.
“We got to the point where I told Tim that we’d gone as far as possible without a good promoter,” Jennings said.]
“And there was interest around the world, I was talking with Bob Arum, with Al Haymon’s guys, talking with Dean Lonergan, with Matt Rose.
“There were those who came in and out, Tim and I decided to put him out to market, see what was the best option, the best commercial reality, and who offered us the best guidance to go forward to the next level.
“It took seven months to decide, there was no rush, this was a life-changing career move, and the people we join have to be part of our team and they have to be a part of ours, because it’s a partnership where you have to trust each other.
“We joined No Limit, and the rest is history.
“We created a bubble, and that’s how we’ve worked. No Limit have been absolutely unbelievable, every time we fight and have success, everything we ask for gets delivered without question.
“And No Limit are now one of the biggest in the game. No Limit will promote Tim Tszyu versus [Terence] Bud Crawford, this is a small group of guys in Australia taking on the biggest of the biggest.
“And the evolution started, he cleared out Australia, got through the [Michael] Zerafa nonsense, now on the world stage, but our team stayed the same.
“We didn’t have to change much, we just had to grow with him.
“And over time I’ve involved him in our business discussions, he’s got good people around him, and he’s a man now.
“I treat Tim as an absolute equal, and he has now become a part of our business.”
Anseline, or “Dr Bill” as he’s commonly known, works with some of the biggest celebrities in the world, including Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and The Rolling Stones.
“Glen’s one of my best mates, we used to work on the doors together 40 years ago in Newcastle, that’s how I put myself through university and got my medical degree,” Anseline said.
“We got into music, I used to be a bodyguard with Glen and we used to tour around, then I became a doctor.
“I did big tours around the country, around the world, The Rolling Stones are our big client, we’ve just finished with Taylor Swift, Pink and Blink 182, we’ve got AC/DC coming with Glen.
“What I do now, I have a company called Hemisphere, it’s a very unique, bespoke company. We look after security requirements, risk on tours, medical and allied health – physios, chirops, osteopaths, dentists, mental health. And we have doctors who go to hotels and venues.
“It’s an end-to-end bespoke package of mitigating the risk of health, and mitigating the risk of cancellation of tours.
“When Tim called me to say he’d got bitten by the dog [before the Brian Mendoza fight], it was a three week process of having to look after that wound, taking the stitches out, making sure he kept it clean, a doctor friend of mine in Sydney did the stitches, we got him to the fight, he won and the wound didn’t come apart.”
Anseline explained the importance of Jennings’ role.
“We’ve learned a lot from Kostya, we’ve developed and matured, and we’re bringing all our years of experience to manage the Tszyu show,” Anseline said.
“What’s different from Kostya to Tim, is that there isn’t as much distraction. Tim’s got no kids, he has a supportive partner, but the game-changer for Tim is Glen Jennings, he is the ringmaster.
“You’ve got to have that ringmaster to make all those cogs turn to give Tim the purest field in which to work.”
Jennings ensures that Tszyu is kept away from any drama that can distract his training program.
And that program is meticulously laid out by Goloubev, who learned much from Kostya but has quietly developed himself as one of the best boxing trainers in the world.
“With the young boys I’m learning as well, I am changing some stuff too, whatever I’ve learned from Kostya, everyone is an individual and even the boys, Tim and Nikita, they’re different so I adjust some of their programs personally,” Goloubev said.
“So I don’t train them one after the other. I need a break to reset my brain.
“I reckon I have changed, and in boxing, doesn’t matter if you’re a fighter or trainer, you’re always learning something.
“There is no limit with Tim, every fight he is different, look how relaxed he was at the press conference [on Thursday], I’ve never seen him like this. It’s a new stage and a big place, but I don’t see any limit.
“Everybody we work with, they trust me and I trust them.”
Nikita Tszyu says grandfather Boris, who has remained in Sydney, is a key member of the team.
“There’s always advice, guidances he’s trying to give us, things that he believes in, we don’t necessarily always take it, but he’s always there,” Nikita said.
As the Tszyu name continues to grow in the boxing game, so does the Rose’s.
“We’ve always stayed true to ourselves, the whole family dynamic we have is the reason we have success, we’re very close and we really don’t want to let each other down,” George Rose said.
“I want to see my brothers have a long, successful, healthy and happy life. So if I go above and beyond, I know I’m contributing to my family having a happy life.
“That’s what is motivating me, and it’s the same with the boys as well. They know if they’re working hard they’re helping me to reach a higher limit as well. Not that there is a limit, we’re No Limit.”
Originally published as Tszyu, No Limit Boxing: Who’s who in huge Las Vegas entourage
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