Kostya Tszyu has changed his mind and won’t be ringside in Las Vegas to watch his son Tim attempt to follow in his legendary footsteps as a unified world boxing champion.
Tszyu senior was set to fly from his home in Russia to be at his son’s fight against American Sebastian Fundora on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) when he will try to add the super welterweight WBC belt to his WBO title strap.
Success will see Tim and Kostya join Leon and Corey Spinks as only the second father-and-son duo to become unified world boxing champions.
But Tim said that his dad, who has only seen him fight live once before – back in 2016 on his professional debut – would miss the biggest bout of his career.
Kostya Tszyu fought five times in Las Vegas, including his famed 2001 KO of Zab Judah.
“We found out last night he’s not coming,” Tszyu told AAP ahead of his Tuesday training session in Las Vegas.
“I’m not too sure what the issue was – it’s just a bit hard with everything going on in Russia so they decided to stay.”
Tszyu said he wasn’t bothered his father wouldn’t be in his corner for such a massive occasion.
He previously described Kostya’s surprise appearance at the Sydney fight eight years ago as “chaotic” and “out of control”.
Kostya’s decision keeps things simple for his oldest son, who has already had to deal with a change in opponent with just 12 days notice following the injury to Keith Thurman.
“He’s only come to watch me once before so I’m used to it,” Tim said.
“It would have been the unknown if he came down.”
Victory would set up a mega-fight with pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford, who last week announced he would exercise his right as WBO welterweight champion to be named mandatory challenger for the winner of Tszyu versus the 197cm Fundora.
Source Agencies
