Interview: Andrey Ivantsov
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After former boxing champion Kostya Tszyu took a break in his professional career, visits to his homeland from faraway Australia became a good tradition for him. Last winter, he came to show his two sons Russian snow. This time, Tszyu, who takes part in the Business Week of Australia, is accompanied by his wife Natalya and three-year-old daughter Nastya. Izvestia correspondent Andrei Ivantsov distracted the famous boxer from explaining how the kangaroo differs from a bear, and asked him several questions.
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Izvestia: Have you noticed any changes in Russia over the past year?
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Kostya Tszyu: People have become noticeably kinder. Actually, I'm not a supporter of these puppet smiles when a person like you is happy, but only out of politeness. On the other hand, this ubiquitous rudeness that was everywhere ... The time when strangers greeted each other like blood enemies, still passes slowly.
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Izvestia: In Russia, you have several projects. Is this just a business?
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Tszyu: The main thing here is to understand what is business and what ... not charity, of course, but to some extent a tribute. Much of what I do in Russia is not very profitable from a financial point of view, but it’s very interesting. For example, the opening of sports complexes in which children could practice for free. Or ... sorry (answers the phone) . Irka! Hello! Where are you? In Moscow? Come now, come to my hotel. Let's go with you to the bar to see how Australia and Japan will play football. Well, I'm waiting. Excuse me. This is Ira Lashko, our champion in diving, called. She, too, once left for Australia, and now she has returned.
Izvestia: Can this happen to you?
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Tszyu: I’m not giving up. But to come back to Russia, I need to see, understand that I really need here.
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Izvestia: Has anyone ever offered you a good position, say, in the leadership of Russian sports?
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Tszyu: They suggested, but it all sounded somehow unfounded. There was no specifics, and I'm not the kind of person who could be an administrator or a wedding general speaking from the rostrum.
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Izvestia: It is hard to imagine that in Australia your social circle is limited to the family and Russian boxers from the Tszyu Academy. Who are the people you are friends with on the Green Continent?
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Tszyu: These are representatives of various walks of life. For me, the main thing is whether an honest, sincere person. He is good, in general, or not. And making friends is easy. Once I bought something in a Russian store in Australia. And the guy comes up so simple: "Hi, I'm Volodya from Sverdlovsk." I say: "Here is my address, Volodya, come to visit me in the evening." We sat and talked, took a steam bath in the bathhouse. Since then we have been friends for ten years.
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Izvestia: Previously, you were the only boxer from the former USSR who shone in the professional ring. But in recent years, the number of pupils of the Soviet school in professional boxing has grown markedly ...
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Tszyu: I am sure that our boxing school is the strongest and soon Russian boxers will “tear” everyone in the world. However, Klitschko, Valuev, Lyakhovich, Karmazin have not yet become superstars like Ali, Tyson, Chavez. Only the champion belt for the love of fans is not enough. Need charisma or image, as anyone likes. Your fights should be an exciting adventure, and now, especially in the most popular heavyweight champion, this is a complete pipe. There are good boxers, but no spectacle. For example, I never considered myself a superstar. But my qualities such as intransigence and sharpness in battle help even now, many years after leaving the country, to lead in the ratings of the most popular and beloved Russian athletes, ahead of Kabaeva and Beckham.
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Izvestia: But, say, many people really like the same Valuev.
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Tszyu: Nikolay is a great guy, I am sincerely happy for him and I think that the results that he achieved should have come even earlier. I do not have the opportunity in Australia to watch his battles, only in the newspapers I read reports and listen to my friends' opinions. So, from these sources, after the last fight between Kolya and Beck, there were only positive comments. Especially note the progress of our boxer in technology, even compared to the December fight with Ruiz. By the way, not everyone knows about this, but in the late 90s, Valuev and his team lived and trained with me in Australia. Spent more than a year there, but that time we didn’t work with him ... More precisely, not even with him, but with his entourage. Now, as I understand it, it has almost completely changed - and the result immediately became visible.
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Izvestia: The famous American promoter Don King, known for his not entirely correct tricks, is now showing increased attention to Valuev ...
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Tszyu: On the one hand, King, despite all his notoriety, is the best in royalties in modern boxing. If you want to become a millionaire, contact him. But if he feels that you can "throw" you and earn a couple of extra millions, he will certainly do so. To avoid this, you need to have a team of dedicated and qualified managers who will monitor all financial matters. Although if King works with someone, he picks up all the power for himself. Therefore, I will not dare to say how this situation will develop. Moreover, Valuev has another promoter in Germany.
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Izvestia: Do the fans have a hope to see you again in the ring?
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Tszyu: I have already been scheduled for the next year - but not in sports, but in business. So far I can’t understand if I need to enter the ring again. After losing to Hatton, I wondered a lot why this happened. He was not stronger than me, but angrier, hungrier or something. I still can’t feel this hunger. And for everything else, I’m not ready to sacrifice myself and my family for boxing now. Do you know what they call a boxer who is preparing for a fight? Pregnant Everyone should tiptoe around you, ready to fulfill any whim, and then watch on TV how you get on the head.
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Izvestia: Why then just not say to everyone and to myself: “That's it. I finished with boxing”?
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Tszyu: If I say so, there will be no turning back. I’m not the kind of person who can first say yes and then no. Boxing is my whole life. And I don’t know, maybe in a year I’ll miss the ring so much that becoming “pregnant” will be my greatest happiness.
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Izvestia: After losing to Hatton, your wife, who watched the broadcast of this fight, said that she was against your return to the ring. Can her opinion or any of the other members of your family be decisive?
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Tszyu: I listen, but it is unlikely to become decisive. If I go out into the ring again, I will forbid any of my relatives to watch the live broadcast of the battle. Before meeting with Hatton, only sons and father watched the broadcasts. The wife and mother went for a walk and, only after learning the result of the battle and talking with me, watched his record. And then they decided to look and ... I do not even want to remember.
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Izvestia: In the fall you will be 37 years old. At this age, few even the greatest boxers managed to look worthy in the ring ...
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Tszyu: If you have already made an analogy with other boxers, I will answer in the same spirit. Have you watched the last fight of 41-year-old Bernard Hopkins? Everyone had already written it off, and the guy went out and laid down the star, which is in the prime of Tarver’s strength. Here is an example. And I feel great physically now. For the past six months I have participated in the Australian talk show "Dance with a Star", an analogue of which, as far as I know, is on Russian television. So, to participate in this show, I was engaged in six hours a day six days a week in heavy physical training, after which at least go into the ring. True, this was not called training, but rehearsal. Not very boxing (laughs) .