Kostya Tszyu

He now lives in the outskirts of Moscow with his second wife Tatiana Averina, a former model and PR executive, whom he married in 2015. They have two children, Aleksander and Viktoria.

Kostya is an animal lover and has several pets including a Rottweiler, who has been with him for years, a pet diamond python, canaries, and fish.

Kostya Tszyu was born on September 19, 1969, in Serov, an industrial town in the former Soviet Union, to a Korean/Mongol father, who was a fitter in a metal factory, and a Russian mother, who was a nurse.

His father put a hyperactive Kostya in a boxing gym so that he could channelize his energy and also protect himself by fighting older boys. The Soviet amateur team coaches were impressed with the boy and sent him to the Soviet Union's amateur boxing travelling training camps.

While getting trained and fighting in tournaments simultaneously, he visited more than 30 countries and won various tournaments, like the Amateur Boxing World Championships. In 1987, at the Cuban world championship tournament, he was placed second and at the 1988 Summer Olympics, he reached till the third round.

He joined the Soviet military for some time, but did not go to war because he was selected as an elite athlete. In 1989, he participated in the world championships in Moscow and took the third place.

In 1991, he participated in the amateur world championships in Sydney. Impressed by the sights of Sydney, he decided to live in Australia. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he immigrated to Australia, became an Australian citizen, and settled in Rockdale, Sydney.

Kostya Tszyu turned professional in March 1992 at Melbourne and defeated Darrell Hiles by a knockout. In his fourth professional bout, he beat former WBC Featherweight Champion Juan Laporte, and in his sixth bout, he beat Sammy Fuentes by a knockout.

He again beat Fuentes in 1993. In the same year, he defeated Livingstone Bramble, a former World Lightweight Champion, at Newcastle, New South Wales.

In 1994, he beat Héctor López by a decision in ten, and Angel Hernandez by a knockout in seven. After the win against Pedro Chinito Sanchez by by a knockout in four, Kostya was ranked number one in the light welterweight division.

In 1995, he knocked Welterweight Champion Jake Rodríguez in the sixth round, and became the world champion. He defended the title by defeating former Super Featherweight and Light Welterweight World Champion Roger Mayweather, Hugo Pineda, Cory Johnson, and Jan Bergman.

In 1997, he lost for the first time, to Vince Phillips, and his world championship also went with it. After he defeated former world champions Calvin Grove and Rafael Ruelas, he beat Diosbelys Hurtado by a knockout in five.

Kostya Tszyu is a two-time light-welterweight world champion. As an amateur, he represented the Soviet Union at the 1989 World Championships and earned a bronze medal in the lightweight division.

He won a gold medal in the light-welterweight division at the 1991 World Championships. He also won gold medals at the 1989 and 1991 European Championships.

In 1995, he won his first professional world championship in light-welterweight—the IBF title. He also won the vacant WBC title in 1999 and the WBA (Super) title in 2001.