Kostya, Tatiana, even Aussie Joe Bugner - don’t we just love our dinky di sportsmen and women? Bring us your poor, your tired, your hungry but above all, bring us your champions. The point is, of course, that these particular immigrants are very welcome here. If anything, Australians are flattered that they chose this big wide land as their home, it means that aside from having sporting prowess they also have impeccable taste and, above all, a willingness to contribute to the national trophy cabinet. Don’t even think about returning home though, if the public can boo and jeer an average 16-year-old girl off the court for returning to Yugoslavia, there is no telling how they would react to the loss of a world champion.
You could be forgiven for thinking that professional boxing has degenerated to sub-World Wrestling Federation levels what with the lumbering parade of heavyweights trash-talking through their pre-fight press conferences. The fact remains, as it has for many years, that the more adept exponents of the sport are to be found in the lighter weight classes. The action featured on Destiny all takes place within the Super Lightweight class and as such contains all the pace and fury of an angry dogfight.
That Kostya Tszyu is now the master of his domain and one of only three current fighters to hold the title in all three federations is old news to anyone that follows the sport or even reads the back few pages of the nation’s dailies. Having watched the three fights (vs Diobelys Hurtado in November ’98 for the WBC belt, Sharmba Mitchell in February ’01 for the WBA belt and, finally, Zab Judah in November ’01 for the IBF belt) there is absolutely no doubt that this guy is a world class hitter-of-heads.
In each bout, Kostya assumes the role of silent assassin, with each of his brasher, more talkative opponents getting their verbal licks in at the pre-fight weigh-ins. Poor old Zab Judah will be lucky if he can get icy pole licks in for the next 12 months given the number that our Russian champ does on him in the second round (he really does go down like a bag of the proverbial).
The footage is inter-cut with interviews and perspectives from Kostya’s trainer (Johnny Lewis), a boxing commentator (Paul Upham) and, of course, the champ himself. Somehow, Tszyu’s limited language skills render his insights and comments all the more chilling. Forthright, calm and rather than just talking tough, he dissects his opponents' weaknesses (and his own strengths) with the same matter-of-fact air that one would use to explain basic mathematics to a child. Add to this some excellent training footage (at one point he dances around and jabs at a tennis ball attached by an elastic band to his own forehead – no, I didn’t make that up) and what you have is a nice little package showcasing one of the planet’s best pound-for-pound boxers at the top of his game.
So there you have it, Kostya loves us and we love Kostya (well he is such a wonderful provider after all, what with bringing home three lovely World Title belts and everything). He’s a family man, a man of few words and a man who can bash your face in as an afterthought.
‘Australians all let us rejoice…’
The picture quality on Destiny can be divided into three sections. The first is the training footage: very entertaining stuff this, and seemingly shot on video because the quality isn’t that great, the picture suffers from lack of definition and contains a lot of noise. Funnily enough, it seems to suit the content down to a tee. Pristine quality footage of a guy training in a run-down boxing gym just wouldn’t carry the same authenticity. The second section is that of the various interviews. Those with Kostya’s trainer and with the boxing commentator are of reasonable quality, while those of the Russian are below par. Still, once again, this is perfectly serviceable given the content. The third area is that of the fight footage. This is the engine room of the whole disc and is as good as you would see anywhere (with the exception of Hollywood choreographed fight scenes of course). Those with pay per view would recognise the footage as standard, but the transfer to DVD has been kind and the colours are vibrant while the lines remain sharp.
