 Word On Books
with Jeremy Fenton
Kostya Tszyu:
My Story
By Kostya Tszyu
and Malcolm Andrews
Published by ABC Books
 Boxing’s obviously not a sport for everybody (whether talking about participating or just watching), but it has certainly produced its fair share of fascinating people. Not the least of which is Australia’s compact and seemingly ever-smiling Kostya Tszyu.
Born in 1970 and raised in the “grim” Siberian industrial town of Serov, Tszyu spent his early years in a one room ‘apartment’ in a Soviet-era housing estate with his close-knit family. He started boxing lessons at the age of ten (it was his father’s decision not his own), and by the time he became a professional in 1991 he had fought in 270 bouts and lost just 11.
From a tender age he had displayed the discipline, tenacity and self-belief that would eventually enable him to unify the three titles in the junior-welterweight class and become arguably one of the best fighters ever to grace a ring. As both an amateur and a professional, Tszyu has had an exceptional record (almost unmarred but for the upset loss to Vince Phillips in 1997).
In 1992, after facing over two decades of the often-inexplicable ways and hardships of Russian cultural and sporting life (including bizarre incidents like being dropped from the national team because of not wanting to fight when he was obviously sick), he uprooted himself – and his teenage sweetheart, Natasha – to move to Australia.
Like many elite-level sporting figures, Tszyu has had his share of personal and business problems. Not the least of which was the infamous court case that eventuated as a result of his breach of contract with Bill Mordey, which was to ultimately cost him a cool four million dollars and a bout of depression.
While there’s no doubt that Tszyu has an interesting life story to tell, this autobiography (co-written with Andrew Malcolm) merely checks off the high and low points without ever seriously entering into the probing self-examination (or re-evaluation) that is one of the hallmarks of good biography.
There is a wealth of anecdote and depth that is unfortunately only hinted at (such as the story of his coach, Vladimir Chernya, who made him look after a brood of chickens for a time before ordering him to kill them as, presumably, some sort of toughening-up exercise). To print little else other than the facts doesn’t always make for entertaining or engrossing reading.
To paraphrase Tszyu himself: I can’t say that this is a bad book, but it’s not a good one either. Whatever the case, My Story will have strong appeal for boxing and Tszyu fans alike.
- Thank you to The Book Warehouse in Lismore for providing the books for this and last week’s column.
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