Nikita Tszyu has opened up about the feud with his older brother Tim that means that Tim will be absent from his fight on May 6 with Oscar Diaz.
The Australian and his Spanish opponent will fight at junior middleweight at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in Newcastle, Australia – but after Tim Tszyu was a vocal critic of Nikita’s then-opponent Michael Zerafa at Nikita’s most recent fight in January, when Nikita makes his way to the ring to confront Diaz, Tim will not be seen.
Tim was in Nikita’s pre-fight changing room that night, where their uncle and Nikita’s trainer Igor Goloubev and manager Glenn Jennings were also present, despite Tim having so recently fought for the first time since dismissing them in the aftermath of his second defeat by Sebastian Fundora.
Since then Jennings has initiated legal proceedings against Australia’s highest-profile fighter, and while Nikita insists that he is determined to “completely stay out of it”, it has contributed to the tension that has developed between them.
The 31-year-old Tim Tszyu had previously responded, with laughing emojis, to a video in which Nikita explained his absence from his brother’s victory earlier in April over Denis Nurja. Nikita regardless maintains that he was unwell, but he accepts that Tim is unlikely to be present to support him in Newcastle and has no plans to make changes to his Goloubev-and-Jennings-led team.
“Everything that’s been going on with Tim and the lawsuits – my manager – I’ve just tried to completely stay out of it,” he told BoxingScene. “It’s not something that I wanna get involved with; it’s something between him and Glenn, and I really just tried to stay completely out of it.
“It’s life. I can’t get involved with it. It’s not my business. It’s only going to put stress on me that I don’t need to think about.
“I was actually quite sick [when he fought Nurja]. I had a really bad headache all week, and I had to take that full week off training, and it was kind of messed up. Going to a fight night wouldn’t have been good, as I had a sparring partner coming in from Brisbane that following week, so I had to really be in physical condition.”
Asked about how he felt about his brother’s absence from his date with the 25-year-old Diaz, he then responded: “It doesn’t bother me. The people I really need there is my team, and there’s only a small bunch of guys that are there for me and who are a vital part in the machine. As long as I have them in my corner, I should be good.
“It’s family stuff. I’d rather keep it quiet.”
