Winner Take All

Russian Boxing Champion Kostya Tszyu is one of the best there ever was. But he insists that he wasn’t born that way.

Asked to describe himself as a boy, when he first began boxing, undisputed super-lightweight champion Kostya Tszyu breathes one word: “Average.” So—given his lofty ambitions in the sport—he had to get to work. °  “When I start to get more serious about [boxing],” he said, “my day starts at five-thirty. Get up in the morning, train, then go to school. Finish school around two o’clock, training at four-thirty. Come home around six-thirty or seven o’clock, have a little dinner, a little homework, and go to bed. It’s a very simple life in some respects. But very big sacrifice for the things I want to achieve.” °  Kostya Tszyu’s story is one of discipline and decency. It is also a story of dreams realized: If he had not kept topping himself, and was not still boxing, one might say that his career has had a beautiful arch to it. °  There are many who would dispute Tszyu’s characterization of his raw boxing talent as “average.” One such person is a former Soviet coach, who once called Tszyu’s natural style, “A gift from God.” How does an “average kid,” after all, compile an amateur boxing record of 259-11, and, as a professional, win four world titles, going nearly undefeated in 31 fights?