Nikita Tszyu has spoken about the wild moment he nearly broke the neck of a sparring partner as he puts the finishing touches on his pressure-cooker showdown with Gold Coast fighter Ben Mahoney (17-0-1).
Long considered an offbeat character in Aussie boxing, Tszyu has been known to eat snake hearts and drink breast milk in the past.
He says he doesn’t remember the sparring incident clearly as he revealed boxing forces him to go to dark places.
This is even more interesting considering Doyle’s Boxing Gym—his new training base – used to be a church.
The converted building still has yellow stained glass windows, a raised floor that used to be the altar, and a recess in the wall where three confessional booths once lived.
Tszyu doesn’t need a booth to confess.
Instead he tells Code Sports the wild tale from his own confessional area: the boxing ring.
“There’s something ethereal about this place,” he says of the gym. “I like the yellow light that comes through the windows – it’s warming.
“It’s interesting…we’re training in a church, but I’m like the devil.
“An unwanted entity training in the church.
“Boxing is a very spiritual act though. You have to harness parts of yourself that are usually dormant.
“That spiritual side, I like to dabble my feet in.”
Tszyu is training at the gym after leaving the family’s long-time base at Rockdale PCYC.
‘The Butcher’ was locked out of the Tszyu Fight Club in April and forced to relocate after a fallout with older brother, Tim, and says he’ll never go back.
“No, that’s over,” he says of the third-floor gym where his father, Kostya, once trained. “That’s a door that’s been closed for sure.
“So, definitely not. No chance.
“Plus, this is better for my granddad. He doesn’t have to walk up any stairs, there’s toilets right nearby.
“At Rockdale you have to do a marathon just to do a piss. Three sets of stairs, it’s too much.”
Despite being just a week out from the next big test of his young career, Tszyu is relaxed and easy going in the warm afternoon light of the former church.
The change comes when he steps into the ring.
Which brings us to that recent sparring session against the Australasian super-middleweight champion Ralph Etienne.
Tszyu was in full fight mode that day.
“When the fighting version of me comes out, he’s in charge, and I do what he wants,” Tszyu says. “Ralph told me after one of our sparring sessions recently, ‘Man, you’re actually a psychopath’,” Tszyu says.
“Apparently in sparring, we clinched up at one point – and I don’t even remember doing this – but apparently I grabbed his head with my hands in my gloves and I tried to twist it.
“Like breaking his neck.
“He was like, ‘dude, I didn’t know what to do’.
“It’s a different personality that takes over in the ring. I don’t even remember doing it.
“We laughed about it, I said sorry I didn’t mean to do it.
“It’s just funny how the switch happens.”
Tszyu flies to the Gold Coast on Thursday for the final stretch of his 13th training camp as a professional.
A win over the undefeated Mahoney can propel him into world title contention, but all that is far from his thoughts now.
And so is that “evil” other side of him.
“When there’s a need for that kind of energy, it will find its way out,” he says. “When there’s no danger in front of me, I’m relaxed.
“I’m chill as a cucumber.
“So, that’s not the personality that’s in me right now.
“After fighting, the thirst has been fed, and I go back to normal. I’m not walking around wanting to break people’s necks.
“Well, maybe if the wrong person cuts me off in traffic…”
Originally published as ‘Psychopath’ Nikita Tszyu tried to break sparring partner’s neck in preparation for Ben Mahoney bout