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***** Meets Boxing Champion Kostya Tszyu
Russian President ***** Meets Boxing Champion Kostya Tszyu
Created: 20.12.2004 19:37 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 17:23 MSK
MosNews
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir ***** met in his Novo-Ogarevo residence in the outskirts of Moscow with famous Russian boxer Kostya Tszyu, who has been living in Australia for the past several years, the RIA-Novosti news agency reports.
The president said that he watched Kostya Tszyu’s latest fight with great pleasure. “I would like to congratulate you on the result of the latest fight. We are proud of you,” Mr. ***** stated.
In his turn, Mr. Tszyu said that the latest victory was important not only for him and Russia, but also for the Russian youth because it would encourage youngsters to practice sports.
The president asked the boxer which of his fights he considered the most difficult. Tszyu answered that the most difficult aspect was not the fights, but practice sessions, especially during the two years after his last injury.
“I hope that I showed young people in Russia and Australia a good example of how you can achieve great results despite injuries or any other obstacles, if you really want to succeed,” Mr. Tszyu said.
Kostya Tszyu presented Vladimir ***** with a pair of boxing gloves with the inscription, “Thank you for your dedication and faith. Yours, Konstantin Tszyu.”
In addition, the Russian boxer presented the president with a DVD with recordings of three of his champion fights. “This is what it took for me to become the World Champion,” Tszyu remarked.
He also gave Vladimir ***** a book about the beginning of his professional career as a boxer. Mr. Tszyu pointed out that the book is written in English, but it is easy to read, and he hopes to arrange for its translation into Russian.
“We will help you to publish it in Russia,” Vladimir ***** assured the boxer. He also promised the boxer to show him his personal gym.
Describing his future plans to the president, Kostya Tszyu mentioned that after the end of his boxing career, he might practice some other sports, probably, sporting shooting.
Kostya Tszyu was born in September 1969 in the small town of Serov in the Urals region.
During his amateur career, Mr. Tszyu won a number of prestigious titles, became European boxing champion in 1989 and 1991, won the Goodwill Games champion title in Seattle, and became the World Champion in Australia in 1991.
Over his entire career, the boxer has had 282 fights and won 270 of them.
The 1991 World Championship in Australia was a turning point in his sports career. After the championship he received an offer to become a professional boxer and to live and practice boxing in Australia.
Kostya Tszyu moved to Sidney in March 1992, and participated in his first professional fight the same year. Soon, he acquired a reputation of one of the best boxers in the weight category of up to 63.5 kilograms. As a professional boxer, Kostya Tszyu has won 31 fights, 25 of them by a knockout. He has lost only one fight, to American boxer Vince Philips.
At present, Mr. Tszyu has the title of the Absolute World Champion, possessing the Champion belts of three boxing associations — WBC, WBA and IBF.
In December 2004, Kostya Tszyu became an International Ambassador for Moscow’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
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