Tim Tszyu’s younger brother Nikita signs deal to become professional boxer

‘He is a natural lion’ - Tim Tszyu has no doubt his younger brother Nikita can emulate the family achievements after making the decision to become a professional boxer.

18/11/21 - WEEKEND TELEGRAPH SPECIAL. MUST TALK WITH PIC EDITOR JEFF DARMANIN BEFORE PUBLISHING **** STRICT EMBARGO ON IMAGES **** World rated boxer Tim Tszyu (left) pictured with his younger brother Nikita Tszyu who will follow in his footsteps and turn professional next year. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

It was a destiny he could not run from.

Nikita Tszyu, the younger brother of boxing superstar Tim, has signed a fight contract to turn professional early next year.

Six years after stepping away from boxing, Nikita, 23, plans to emulate Tim and their father Kostya.

Tim Tszyu with his younger brother Nikita who will turn professional next year.

“I want to achieve that greatness,” he said.

Nikita has signed with manager Glen Jennings, who oversaw Kostya’s career and is now in charge of Tim’s campaign to be a world champion.

His older brother, who comprehensively defeated Takeshi Inoue last Wednesday night to move to 20-0 (15KO) as a pro and is on the verge of fighting for the WBO super-welterweight title next year, has no doubt Nikita can cut a similar path. Nikita will fight in the same

68.85kg weight division as Tim.

“Nikita is a natural lion, he’s got animal instinct in him,” said Tim Tszyu, 27.

“As soon as he gets into the ring, he’s a kicker.

“Growing up, I didn’t have that. I was always the calm guy in the ring, I would think before I do. He doesn’t think before he does, he just does.

“And that’s our personalities.

“I’ve always had to lead the way, and Nikita’s had to chase.”

Nikita added: “I have someone to chase, and he has someone to run away from.”

Nikita signs his management contract with Glen Jennings to become a professional boxer.

A supremely talented amateur who won multiple national titles, Nikita was seen by many as the Tszyu son who would go on to achieve glory in the ring.

However, he made the choice in 2015 to step away from the sweet science to focus on his education.

Tim spent two years out of the ring focusing on study before turning professional in 2016, and is now the face of Australian boxing.

After completing a degree in architecture, and living the party lifestyle, Nikita is ready to follow his older brother.

“I’m actually very fortunate that I went through that stage because I got it out of my system,” Nikita said. “Now I have my head clear and I know exactly what I want, I want to achieve that greatness.

“I want to achieve the level that I feel I can achieve, and that all comes with sacrifice.”

Kostya Tszyu, only the second Australian fighter to be a unified boxing champion behind Lionel Rose, will watch on from his Moscow home and advise his youngest boy as he has done with Tim.

Jennings said: “The Tszyu boys don’t come along very often, Kostya created two of them, that’s it, there’s no more.

“We know the comparisons will come, it’s inevitable and we’ll handle it.

Kostya with Tim and Nikita in 1998.

Kostya with his two boys at the gym 17 years ago.

“We respect that Kostya opened up the door, we respect what he achieved. But Kostya, in some respects, is long gone. He‘s living in his own life and doing his thing, and these boys are creating their own pathway forward, and it’s a sign of respect for what he achieved, the fact that he created something that these boys aspire to.

“And I believe there‘s every chance they’ll both get there, but that’s on them.”

Tim has often spoken about the rigidity of their childhood, when Kostya would have his boys run 5km every morning at 4am, then do additional training each evening after homework was done.

“Dad created us when he was a hard man,” Tim said.

“Now, he’s completely different, but if you watch the Michael Jordan documentary [The Last Dance], that was my dad. I was watching it going, ‘This is the exact same mentality as my dad’.

“This guy was actually hated by his teammates. And there is the public image, but my dad was a hard man.”

Nikita added: “And we absorbed it.

“At the start of Year 11, I went to the Australian championships. And at the exact same week, I had my first set of Year 11 exams, and I didn’t tell anyone that I was leaving.

“So I basically came back to high school and they told me, ‘If you don‘t get over 60 or 70 per cent on your next exam you’re going to be repeating’. So I was faced with this decision. I have to kind of stop boxing for a bit, focus on my studies purely out of the embarrassment of repeating Year 11, being with the year below.

Nikita Tszyu has always shown a lot of promise in the ring.

“It was daunting for me, something I definitely didn’t want. So then I got into the rhythm of really focusing on my studies. I put all my attention to the HSC. I started to enjoy studying, it was a refreshing feeling because basically all through my high school, I was in one of the dumbest classes, I was always seen as one of the dumbest students.

“Being able to develop educationally wise was something interesting to me. Then I found architecture.

“To get into uni I had to do a TAFE course, and I fell in love with it.

“It’s one of those courses where it’s one or the other – it is so time-demanding.

“So I came up with the decision to put boxing to the side for a while. I even tried to demonise boxing at times to forget it completely.

“I tried to have a fight at the end of TAFE but I got injured.

“That was playing on my mind, maybe boxing is not for me, because I keep getting injured when I try to fight.

“But it got to a point where I got really sick of sitting on the computer. I have a lot of energy inside of me and it just can’t be tamed being on a computer.

“I’ve been thinking about this for the last two years, I was contemplating if I should be doing it or not.

The family Tszyu have become an Aussie boxing institution.

“I was going into the gym, practising, testing my skills, trying to build myself back up. But I found it difficult at times to refine myself in boxing.

“But my experience previously has taught me that you have constantly dedicate your life to it, constantly train and work your arse off.

“That’s what I’m going through now. Although I’m not perfect at this point, nowhere near perfect, it’s a matter of time. Constantly putting the hours in, I’ll get back to my stage, the stage that I left.”

Jennings had a frank conversation with Nikita when first approached to manage him as a pro boxer.

“One of the things that I needed to establish before we formalised this agreement together,” Jennings said, “was ‘Why?’

“I’d asked Tim the same question. And both boys, in their own words but with a different slant, said there’s an unfinished business for them to see what they are capable of.

“Tim said to me, ‘I just want to see how good I can be’. And Nikita said in a different way, but the same.

“As a manager it is such a serious commitment, this is a 10-year window at the minimum, God willing, without injury, 10 years of your life, you’re dedicating to something.

“And it’s not something you can treat lightly, you’ve got to look at it as a big piece of your life at the most productive time in your life.

Nikita with his dad in 2001.

“And if you don’t do this properly, we don’t do this as a business and we don’t do this professionally, it will grind you into the ground and you’ll end up with nothing.

“And so I have very specific goals and road maps for Nikita, as I do for Tim, and I’m super confident that the little thing that he said, ‘I want to see just where this can take me, I want to feel the greatness’, I have no doubt he’ll get there, no doubt.”

It will be a slow, strategic build for Nikita, who is expected to debut in February.

While he has not signed a promotional deal, Tim Tszyu and Jennings’ successful relationship with No Limit Boxing puts them in prime position.

“Tim is going to go on to world titles, and that’s coming for Nikita,” Jennings said.

“But if you have five fights a year, you’re looking at three years before you can say ‘I’m not a rookie anymore’. I’ve always said that in boxing, you need at least 15 fights before you’re no longer a rookie.

“It’s all up to young fella, but I just love his mindset and how mature he is at 23.

“It’s really exciting for me to get to do this a third time with the Tszyu family.”

While Nikita has been struggling with his desire to turn pro for two years, it was at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in March this year that his mind was made up.

Double trouble with Tim, 7, and Nikita, 4.

“In Tim’s fight against Dennis Hogan, I got to go into the ring,” Nikita said.

“That feeling of being on the mat, seeing everyone cheering around, that was one of the main deciding moments that made me want to go back into the sport.

“It was motivating. Seeing my brother there, seeing that beautiful victory - I was training with him beforehand, so I got to see the process.

“Yes, Tim is one of the main motivations for me to come back.”

Originally published as Tim Tszyu’s younger brother Nikita signs deal to become professional boxer