Olympic champion Alexei Tishchenko recently became the first European champion, speaking in the new weight category up to 60 kg. The Sport Today correspondent met with the best Russian boxer in the holiday season, on the eve of the health gathering of the national team in Turkey. Tishchenko frankly admitted that he was holding him in amateur boxing, revealed the secrets of his crown blow and explained why he did not like boxers like Ricky Hatton.
The European Championship in Bulgaria for Alexei Tishchenko was not an easy walk. A piquant detail of his victory is given by a light cartoon on his face - a dissection under the eye, obtained in a semifinal battle. The Russian boxer, who gathered all kinds of titles in amateur boxing, could well have remained without a final if the judges considered the bleeding to be fatal and refused to continue the fight.
“An unpleasant story,” Tishchenko says quietly at an official press conference, as if embarrassed and making excuses. - Could probably lose. I ran into a blow, since by that time I was leading decently on points.
While journalists are squeezing words out of the boxer, like juice from a capricious lemon, I notice in the quiet corner of the conference room Alexey's girl - Nelly, a black-haired beauty with a small dog in her arms. The puppy is not even six months old.
“Alexei loves him very much,” Nellie smiles. - He constantly plays with him. He’s completely different at home, the mask of severity and concentration, thank God, disappears.
In public, Tishchenko is truly restrained, a little gloomy, like a hero of Dostoevsky, and extremely politically correct in answering questions. He tries to ponder each phrase, sometimes a pause hangs indecently for a long time.
- You better talk with him one on one, so the sense will come out, without prying eyes. Lesha will tell you a lot of interesting things - the boxing life of him is awesome, ”offers Father Tishchenko and at the same time his first coach, Viktor Gennadevich.
Good advice. For the interview we choose the Georgian restaurant “Mimino” - a cozy restaurant in the center of Omsk, where during the day, as usual, there are not many visitors. Aleksey quickly becomes acquainted with the menu, selects orange juice and repeats the order regularly during the hour of conversation, not paying attention to the booglam breathing in the steam and delicious khachapuri at the next table.
- If you had not won in Bulgaria, many would simply not have understood it? Do you agree?
- It’s hard when everyone expects only victory from you. There is no room for error. It is annoying, of course. But in general, except for this strange (Tischenko used just such an adjective - P.K.) fight in the semifinals, everything went fine. Won in the classroom. For me, this victory is valuable, because, in addition to this medal, I have already won the rest of the awards of amateur boxing.
Over the past three and a half years, Tishchenko has not lost a single official battle, winning the intricate tournament sine wave: first he won the Olympics, then the World Championships and finally the European Championships.
- Despite 22 years, you are the most titled in the team. Feel like a leader?
- Well, titles and leadership are two different things. Our whole team is stellar. Nine of the eleven gold medals won. All leaders and champions.
- This year you decided to change the weight category. Why?
- Before the World Championships in Minyang, it was not easy to control the weight, “drive” it to the required 57 kilograms. In the new season, coach Leonid Kiselev and I decided not to suffer and go into a heavier weight category. Head coach Alexander Lebzyak supported. At the tournament in the Czech Republic, which preceded the European Championships, for the first time he fought in a new weight, experienced unusual feelings, yet I was opposed by less familiar rivals, including Russian champion Maxim Ignatiev. We had the main battle with him.
- Do you prepare personally for your rivals, take into account their strengths and weaknesses, or just try to concentrate on yourself?
- I follow myself more. Coaches, of course, look at opponents, give the most necessary advice. Sometimes it comes to the ridiculous. In the Czech Republic, for example, in the finals I had to fight with a local boxer, whom I had never seen. I go to the coaches who looked at his fights, I’m interested in right-handed or left-handed. In response, they only shrug: “Bag”, what to take from it, don’t worry, go calmly get ready. ”
- During the battle, do you hear what the coaches suggest?
- Almost always. It’s not so much the hint as the support that matters. For complete peace of mind, I always want a personal trainer nearby.
- Do you have uncomfortable opponents? Many, for example, do not like to fight with boxers working in the left-handed stance ...
- Lefties are all about the same. I have already adapted to them. Previously, I did not feel very comfortable in fights with high boxers, but now, rather, I do not like the fuss in the ring. I watched last year the battle of Kostya Tszyu with Ricky Hatton and realized that boxers such as the Englishman could unbalance even the most sophisticated masters. By and large, he did nothing for the whole battle, only brazenly climbed and climbed forward, but the judges innocently bought and gave him the victory.
Tishchenko does not hide the fact that he likes to watch boxing on TV. He is not a fan of broadcasts, but on occasion gives examples and analogies from the fights of Roy Jones or numerous Mexicans, whose names are more difficult to remember than the capitals of African states.
- Can you identify your strengths? Are you more comfortable boxing in close combat, constantly imposing pressure on your opponent, or at a distance, keeping a distance?
- It's hard to say ... Probably, it all depends on the opponent. I mainly rely on my crown kick - the right straight in the body. Even when the battle as a whole does not work out, the combination with this final blow always passes.
In the ring, Tishchenko is distinguished not only by the “right straight” miracle strike, which he regularly checks for sparring in the Omsk boxing center, but also by his aggressive fighting style and good physical readiness. Such raw data is highly valued in professional boxing. Many people say that in the near future Alexey will successfully move there. Coach Leonid Kiselev on this occasion prefers to remain silent, revealing to journalists only one small secret: "Alex thinks, of course."
“Well, no,” Tishchenko retorts unexpectedly. - I’m thinking - yes, maybe sometimes I compare myself with the pros, but to sit and load, I dreamed of boxing somewhere in America - this is definitely not there.
- And now what can keep you, with a scattering of titles, in amateur boxing?
- I have a goal - to win the Beijing Olympics. This is a great incentive. Believe me, staying on top is much harder than climbing on top of it.
- Will you still box this year?
- Mandatory. In early September, an international tournament in Makhachkala, and then the World Cup in Baku. There, I hope, I will meet with one of the Cubans.
... The questions were exhausted, the juice was finished, the neighbor's booglam had not breathed steam for a long time. Only after that Tishchenko somehow casually asked: “And why Mimino? One could, for example, have a chat at the Patio Pizza. Simple and tasteful, in my opinion. ”
Without this note, the story of Tishchenko, a simple Siberian guy for whom his father is an example of life, and the greatest joy is to go to the start of the Siberian International Marathon on the day of the 290th anniversary of Omsk along with tens of thousands of citizens, would be incomplete. Agree ...
Pavel KOPACHEV, Omsk