Undefeated junior welterweight Tim Tszyu is planning to incorporate his Hall of Fame father, former undisputed junior welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu, to prepare for a planned fight against undisputed 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo.
The fight between Charlo and Tszyu is expected to take place at some point in the coming months – with January of 2023 being one of the mentioned months.
Kostya, who lives in Russia, has not seen his son since September of 2019 – when Kostya last visited Australia. Tszyu’s father has only attended one of his 21 pro fights.
“I’d love to go visit Dad or Dad come and see me,” Tszyu said to WA Today.
“Just get a few tips and see what he thinks about the fight, work on some game plans. I’m not sure about the full logistics of it all yet, we’re working on it now. We want to do more face to face, I haven’t seen him since the whole COVID situation.
“’ll have to get a few tips off him. His experiences are different to mine, it’s been a completely different journey. Just to be able to see what he thinks will be good.”
Tszyu admits that his father could be overbearing, which created tension when Kostya came to son’s pro debut. Tszyu makes it clear that Igor Golubev would continue to be his trainer regardless of what happens.
“My dad is erratic. He’s a bit difficult. [In small doses] I can control him a little bit more,” the 27-year-old Tszyu said.
Tszyu previously trained in Thailand and said the change of scenery would benefit his training.
“There are crazy conditions there,” Tszyu said.
“I’ll go for a couple of weeks, there are some good conditioning trainers there, I’ll get some work in and then get straight back into it with Igor. It will get me mentally and physically prepared for what’s ahead. A lot of MMA fighters go there. You just focus, there’s not much stopping you.”