Gentle Man, Hard Jab
The Sunday Age
Sunday January 5, 2003
SYDNEY
IT has been written that ``in hell, boxing would be a national pastime", but on the top floor of his Rockdale gym, Kostya Tszyu can make the sport seem heavenly.
The small boxer carefully picks up a piece of rope and faces the mirror. Delicately and very deliberately, he jumps quickly and lightly no more than a few centimetres off the ground.
His plaited ponytail flits and bounces around his neck in time with the skipping motion.
He makes the warm-up process seem easy, but the thick sweat that soon drips off his face and upper body, drenching his T-shirt, is evidence he is working hard.
In the gym it's hot. The windows are shut to trap the heat and humidity. The old ceiling fans push the heat around. The conditions are tropical and are having an effect not only on the boxers' bodies, but on the fans lining the gym, the kids eager to watch Tszyu's last sparring session before he takes on Texan boxer ``Jesse" James Leija in Melbourne in a couple of weeks.
Tszyu's father, Boris, is here - as normal - to care and attend to his son.
Boris wipes the sweat off Tszyu's face, helps lift off his sweat-soaked T-shirt, towels his torso dry, gives him water. He helps strap his son's hands before Tszyu goes over to the mirror and smears Vaseline on to his fine face.
Tszyu then gently pats Nikita, his four-year-old son, on the head, and swiftly punches a few holes in the air.
Then things get rougher - but not hellish.
With bandaged hands, Tszyu heads to the boxing bags and starts jabbing them hard. Just to his left, Nikita boldly imitates his father for a moment. His other son, seven-year-old Tim, watches on proudly, holding his grandfather's hand.
The boxer jumps up on to the edge of the ring, stretching. Then effortlessly, as he has a thousand times before, he bounds into the ring.
Someone switches off the fast pop music that had been filling the gym and all that remains is the quiet murmur of the crowd and the slowing screech of a swinging boxing bag chain.
Tim sits on a set of stairs, biting his nails, taking a drink from his dad's water bottle. He rests his chin on the edge of the ring and watches quietly.
A hush falls over the crowd as Tszyu starts his moves around the ring, punching furiously at nothing. Tim tries on his dad's boxing headgear.
Tszyu's gloves are then taped, his protective gear is donned and he takes a swig of water and spits it into a rubbish bin. An announcement asks no one to talk during Tszyu's final sparring session against three men.
Gairy St Clair, his long-term sparring partner, is first up.
Kostya chases St Clair around the ring, but St Clair returns his fair share of blows.
With no one in the audience breathing a word, the only sound is the smack and thud of gloves on bodies and an exercise bike being cycled by another boxer.
Kostya's wife, Natasha, leans against the gym office doorway and watches her husband intently. Time is called and another boxer is called into the ring to try to wear down Kostya.
Russian welterweight champion Sergey Stepkin is next, and then Mexican Jose Luis Juarez tries his best.
Both let loose with the punches, but Tszyu is tough. The Texan will find it hard to beat this fierce boxer but gentle man on January 19.
Tszyu's bouts
2002: May 18, Las Vegas: d Ben Tackie (Ghana) points
2001: Nov 3, Las Vegas (WBC, WBA, IBF unification bout): d Zab Judah (US) TKO (2nd round)
June 23, Connecticut: d Oktay Urkal (Turkey) points decision
Feb 3, Las Vegas (WBC, WBA unification bout): d Sharmba Mitchell (US) TKO (7th round)
2000: July 29, Phoenix: d Julio Cesar-Chavez (Mexico) KO (6th round)
February 12, Connecticut: Ahmed Santos (Mexico) KO (8th round)
1999: August 21, Florida: d Miguel Angel Gonzalez (Mexico) KO (10th round)
1998: November 28, California: d DioBelis Hurtado (Cuba) KO (5th round)
August 15, El Paso: d Rafael Ruelas (US) KO (9th round)
April 5, Newcastle: d Calvin Grove (US) KO (1st round)
1997: Dec 6, Townsville: d Ismael Chaves (Argentina) KO (3rd round)
May 31, Atlantic City: lost Vincent Phillips (US) TKO (10th round)
Jan 18, Las Vegas: v Leonardo Mas (Puerto Rico) No Contest (1st round)
1996: Sept 14, Newcastle: d Jan Bergman (Sth Af) KO (6th round)
May 24, Sydney: d Cory Johnson (US) KO (4th round)
Jan 20, Sydney: d Hugo Pineda (Colombia) KO (11th round)
1995: June 25, Newcastle (IBF title fight): d Roger Mayweather (US) points
Jan 28, Las Vegas (IBF world title fight): d Jake Rodriguez (Puerto Rico) KO (6th round)
1994: Aug 29, Melbourne: d Pedro Sanchez, KO (4th round)
May 2, Newcastle: d Angel Hernandez (US) KO (7th round)
Jan 11, Tampa: Hector Lopez (Mexico) points decision
1993: Aug 23, Newcastle: d Livingstone Bramble (Saint Kitts) points decision
June 19, Newcastle: d Robert Rivera, KO (1st round)
May 14, Newcastle: d Larry La Coursiere, (US) KO (1st round)
Jan 30, Memphis: d Steve Larrimore (Bahamas) KO (2nd round)
1992: Nov 13, Melbourne: d Sammy Fuentes (US) KO (1st round)
Sept 11, Melbourne: d Daniel Cusato (Argentina) KO (7th round)
July 23, Sydney: Juan Laporte (Puerto Rico) KO (10th round)
May 7, Sydney: Tony Jones, KO (2nd round)
April 2, Sydney: Nedrick Simmons (Canada), KO (1st round)
March 1, Melbourne: Darrell Hiles (Aus), KO (1st round)
© 2003 The Sunday Age