Tim Tszyu jokingly apologised to his legendary dad Kostya Tszyu “for getting hit” in his dominant world title defence against Brian Mendoza.
In a awkward but funny post-fight moment, Kostya called his son on Facetime during a live TV interview on Main Event’s coverage of the bout, the pair then briefly chatting.
“Papa, love ya. And sorry for getting hit,” Tim said, laughing before being told something from off-screen.
“Oh, he didn’t see the fight! So good.”
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Former world champion Shawn Porter jokingly told off Tszyu for his reaction.
“That’s terrible TV, you shouldn’t tell ‘em that he didn’t see the fight! You should’ve pretended that he saw the fight!” Porter quipped.
Tszyu replied: “He should’ve told me that as well! Not happy with you man (laughs).”
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Kostya now lives in Russia with his second family – having remarried and returned to Europe when his boys were young – and no longer attends Tim’s fights, ever since a “chaotic” appearance at ringside of the world champion’s professional debut against Zorran Cassady.
“Quite simple, he was just going crazy,” Tszyu said of his dad’s appearance.
Tszyu revealed to Fox Sports Australia he had removed his dad’s old fight posters from the walls of the Tszyu Boxing Academy coming into the bout with Mendoza.
However that was more about a new attitude and mentality than any sort of negativity between the pair, with Tim saying he would be more than happy to see Kostya at his next fight – almost certain to be in Las Vegas.
“Family’s everything to me, it’s the reason why I do it, and everyone on my team feels like family as well. I see us as a bunch of lions all together and celebrating and doing everything together,” he said.
“If my dad wants to come then for sure. I’ll save him a ticket and it’ll be front row as well.”