Tim Tszyu v Jack Brubaker: Kostya’s warning for son
In 1997 Kostya Tszyu received the most important, and brutal, lesson of his career - and the boxing legend is concerned son Tim could suffer the same fate against Jack Brubaker.
Boxing/MMA
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“Don’t let this happen to you, son”.
As Kostya Tszyu sat beside his boy, whose underrated opponent was at the far end of the same table, he glanced up at the wall of his boxing gym and spotted a poster promoting his 1997 fight against Vince Phillips in New Jersey.
Tszyu was the undefeated light-welterweight world champion, coming up against the unheralded American who had been beaten in his previous bout.
But Phillips stunned the world with a brutal 10th round stoppage to claim the Australian’s IBF belt.
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Kostya looked at the poster, then at his undefeated 24-year-old son Tim, who fights underdog Jack Brubaker on December 6 in Darling Harbour.
“I see one guy [on the wall], Vince Phillips, who gave me a great lesson, which helped me to achieve my goal which was to be the undisputed champion of the world,” Tszyu senior said.
“A few years after we fought we saw each other, and I said ‘Vince, thank you so much for that lesson’. He said ‘Are you sure you’re saying that right?’ ‘Yes, because if you did not beat me that badly, I would never receive that big lesson, that’s why I thank you’.
“I thanked Vince for what he did to me because otherwise I would not have changed my attitude towards sport. On that fight I was a professional boxer, but never a professional athlete.
“Since then, I became a professional athlete. Everything I did in life, I did to become the best.
“That’s what I’m teaching my son.”
Kostya is confident Tim won’t need a similar lesson from Brubaker, who describes himself as “the entertainment king of the ring”.
“Anything can happen in boxing as my dad said, he’s lost to Vince Phillips, but I think the main thing is preparation and being a professional athlete, that hasn’t stopped me, I’m truly focused,” Tim Tszyu said.
“Whatever option there is, you can’t overlook it. Jack Brubaker is coming up a weight division, it’s going to interesting. For me the main thing is to train harder than I’ve trained before.”
Brubaker’s training program will be equally intense under new coach Jeff Fenech, who will take the 27-year-old to Thailand next week for a clinic designed to turn him from a brawler who takes one punch to give two, into a precision hitter who can expose flaws in young Tszyu.
“He hasn’t gone in there and asked for extraordinary amounts of money, he’s asked for the opportunity because he believes he can beat Tim Tszyu,” Fenech said.
Brubaker (16-2-2, 8KO) fights Tszyu (14-0, 10KO) in a super-welterweight clash at First State Super Theatre in the International Convention Centre and predicts a huge upset.
“My punching power has increased dramatically after four weeks with Jeff, 10 weeks is a long time so come fight night I’ll be fit and ready,” Brubaker said.
“Everyone is beatable, and Tim is going to have a loss on his record in 10 weeks.”
But asked for his own prediction on the fight, Tim Tszyu simply stated: “Lights out”.