The president said that he watched Mr. Tszyu's latest fight with great pleasure. "I would like to congratulate you on the result of the latest fight. We are proud of you," Mr. Putin stated.
In his turn, Mr. Tszyu said that the latest victory was important not only for him and Russia, but also for the Russian youth because it would drive the youngsters to practice sports.
The president asked the boxer which of his fights he considered the most difficult. Mr. Tszyu answered that the most difficult were not the fights, but practices, especially during two years after his latest injury.
"I hope that I showed young people in Russia and Australia a good example of how you can achieve great results despite injuries or any other obstacles, if you really want to succeed," Mr. Tszyu said.
Konstantin Tszyu presented Vladimir Putin with a pair of boxing gloves with an inscription, "Thank you for your dedication and faith. Your Konstantin Tszyu."
In addition, the Russian boxer presented the president with a DVD with recordings of three of his champion fights. "This is what it took for me to become the World Champion," Mr. Tszyu remarked.
He also gave Vladimir Putin the book about the beginning of his professional career as a boxer. Mr. Tszyu pointed out that the book is written in English, it is easy to read, and he hopes to arrange for its translation into Russian.
"We will help you to publish it in Russia," Vladimir Putin assured the boxer. He also promised the boxer to show him his personal gym.
Describing his future plans to the president, Konstantin Tszyu mentioned that after the end of his boxing career, he might practice some other sports, probably, sporting shooting.
Konstantin Tszyu was born in September 1969 in a small town of Serov in the Urals region.
During his amateur career, Mr. Tszyu won a number of prestigious titles, became European boxing champion in 1989 and 1991, won the Goodwill Games champion title in Seattle, and became the World Champion in Australia in 1991.
During his entire career, the boxer conducted 282 fights and won 270 of them.
The 1991 World Championship in Australia was a turning point in his sports career. After the championship he received an offer to become a professional boxer and to live and practice boxing in Australia.
Konstantin Tszyu moved to Sidney in March 1992, and participated in his first professional fight in March of the same year. Soon, he acquired a reputation of one of the best boxers in the weight category of up to 63.5 kilograms. As a professional boxer, Konstantin Tszyu won 31 fights, 25 of them by knockout. He lost only one fight, to American boxer Vince Philips.
At present, Mr. Tszyu has the Title of the Absolute World Champion, possessing Champion belts of three boxing associations - WBC, WBA and IBF.
In December 2004, Konstantin Tszyu became an International Ambassador for Moscow's bid to host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
