Kostya Tszyu

Kostya Tszyu
Data
Birth Name	Konstantin Borissowitsch Zsju
Weight class	Light welterweight
nationality	Australian , Russian
birthday	19th September 1969
place of birth	Serov
style	Left delivery
size	1.70 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	34
Victories	31
Knockout victories	25th
Defeats	2
No value	1

Kostya Tszyu (originally Russian Константин Борисович Цзю / Konstantin Borissowitsch Zsju ; born September 19, 1969 in Serow , Soviet Union ) is an Australian-Russian boxer of Russian-Korean origin.

As an amateur boxer, Tszyu was European lightweight champion in 1989 and European and world champion light welterweight in 1991. As a professional boxer, he was WBA, WBC and two-time IBF light welterweight champion.

Amateur career

As an amateur, Kostya Tszyu won 259 fights with only eleven losses. In 1986, he was in the featherweight Soviet junior champion and in Copenhagen European Junior Featherweight Champion. At the Junior World Championship in Havana in 1987 , he took second place in the lightweight . In 1988 he failed in the final of the Soviet senior championship, but then won it three times in a row from 1989 to 1991.

In 1988 he took part in the Olympic Games in Seoul for the Soviet Union , but failed early on because of the later gold medalist Andreas Zülow . 1989 in Athens and 1991 in Gothenburg he won the European title, this time with a victory over Zülow. In 1989 he lost again to Zülow in the semi-finals of the amateur world championship in Moscow and took third place, in 1991 in Sydney he finally won the world championship. This victory became a turning point in his life, as during this tournament he was convinced by an Australian promoter to immigrate to Australia and take Australian citizenship.

Professional career

During the collapse of the Soviet Union , he finally went to Australia and made his professional light welterweight debut in Melbourne in spring 1992.

Tszyu boxed a few but very good opponents . In his fourth fight he defeated the former title holder Juan La Porte , later he knocked out Sammy Fuentes in the first round. He was able to beat the former lightweight world champion Livingstone Bramble in the tenth professional fight and the world-class Héctor López in the eleventh. After victories against two other opponents with good records, he challenged the IBF title holder , the not particularly respected southpaw Jake Rodriguez in 1995 and won by technical knockout in the sixth round.

After several successful title defenses, he lost the belt in 1997 due to a sensational knockout loss to the American Vince Phillips . In 1998 he defeated Rafael Ruelas , former lightweight title holder, and the powerful Cuban Diosbelys Hurtado by knockout, but had to hit the ground twice against Hurtado himself. On August 21, 1999 he won the WBC title by beating Miguel Ángel González .

In a title defense he defeated the worn out Julio César Chavez by knockout, before he combined his WBC with the WBA title with a success against southpaw Sharmba Mitchell .

After another title defense in 2001 against Oktay Urkal , he played another unification fight on November 3, 2001 against the undefeated IBF title holder Zab Judah . Tszyu won by knockout and with the titles of the WBC, WBA and IBF was now the undisputed world champion in light welterweight.

On June 4, 2005 he was finally defeated in Manchester Ricky Hatton when he gave up the fight after the eleventh round, hopelessly behind on points. He has not contested a fight since then, but is keeping a return to the ring open.

In 2011, Tszyu was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

Web links

Commons : Kostya Tszyu  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Kostya Tszyu in the BoxRec database

predecessor	Office	successor
Jake Rodriguez	Light welterweight boxing champion ( IBF ) January 28, 1995 - May 31, 1997	Vince Phillips
Óscar de la Hoya	World Light Welterweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) August 21, 1999 - 2003	Arturo Gatti
Sharmba Mitchell	World Light Welterweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) February 3, 2001 - 2003	Diosbely's Hurtado
Zab Judah	Light welterweight boxing world champion ( IBF ) November 3, 2001 - 2003	Sharmba Mitchell
Sharmba Mitchell	Light welterweight boxing champion ( IBF ) November 6, 2004 - June 4, 2005	Ricky Hatton