Close bond behind Tim Tszyu’s Moroccan fight chef and ‘big brother’ Omar Iferd
Loyalty is the one word describing newly-crowned WBO super-welterweight champion Tim Tszyu’s team as he prepares to defend his title on the Gold Coast. Meet the Moroccan fight chef behind his recent success.
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Loyalty.
It’s the one word describing newly-crowned WBO super-welterweight champion Tim Tszyu’s team as he prepares to defend his title on the Gold Coast against Brian Mendoza.
And a big secret behind the 28-year-old’s success is through Moroccan fight chef and “big brother” Omar Iferd.
While fighting is Tszyu’s biggest challenge, having someone looking after what goes into his body is a huge weight lifted off his shoulders.
For Iferd, his focus is to provide Tszyu with the “most effective … high quality” ingredients to help him stay at the top of the fight game.
“Look, everyone can cook healthy food, you can go home and have some chicken … carbs and potatoes, that’s a healthy meal,” Iferd said.
“But, not everyone is a chef, and not everyone is a fight chef.”
Having moved from the beautiful coastal city of Essaouira 13 years ago, having experience as an executive chef and as an amateur boxer, Iferd knows the wants and needs of Tszyu.
But, the humble 39-year-old will listen and learn when required.
“The best thing about Tim … he’s a champion for a reason … he’s disciplined, so he himself is a nutritionist,” Iferd said.
“He knows what his body needs and he will give me advice sometimes about what he wants … and what he needs to eat.”
And the job isn’t as easy as some may think, because as Tszyu told this publication, his taste regularly goes through “different phases”.
“I went through an Asian inspired stage … then we went for a grilled stage … I had a steak stage … and I guess he just puts up with [everything],” Tszyu said.
“Since [we] started working with each other, I don’t want to go out and eat [anything] … when we go to try grab a feed, [Omar] looks at the food and says ‘what is this’.
“He’s the number one man in the cooking industry.”
With just more than a week until Tszyu faces Brian Mendoza at the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre next Sunday, it will be the fourth consecutive fight he and Iferd have worked together.
Their journey started at a cafe in Brighton-Le-Sands where Iferd formerly worked, and the two bonded straight away over their love of boxing and the Moroccan’s unique knowledge about food.
It’s why the pair continue to speak about “loyalty”.
While having been asked if other fighters or athletes had reached out to him since partnering with the WBO champion, or working at executive restaurants in Sydney, the 39-year-old said he was “very, very loyal to Tim”.
“Our relationship is not just a chef and a boxer, it’s more as a family,” Iferd said.
And as for Tszyu’s favourite post-weigh-in feed, Iferd said pesto chicken pasta was right at the top of the champion’s list and a perfect dish to help the Australian re-energise before stepping in the ring.
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