Russell Crowe has revealed he held Kostya Tszyu, backstage, as he pissed blood into a bucket for 20 minutes after the last fight of his storied career – while also heaping praise on the Hall of Famer’s boxing sons Tim and Nikita. Making an appearance on the hugely popular Joe Rogan Podcast this week, Hollywood superstar Crowe opened up on his relationship with Australia’s No.1 fighting family, which included spruiking the siblings to some two million listeners.
The shock praise comes as both Tszyu brothers prepare to throw down in big fights over the next couple of months, starting with Nikita again defending his Australian super welterweight title in next Wednesday’s Sydney headliner against Koen Mazoudier. Older brother Tim, meanwhile, is currently bunkered down in Las Vegas as he prepares to face undefeated IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev in Orlando, Florida on Sunday, October 20 (Australian time). That bout will be the older Tszyu sibling’s first since losing the WBO strap against towering US southpaw Sebastian Fundora in March.
That defeat, however, does itself come with an oversized asterisk given ‘The Soul Taker’ suffered a nasty head cut at the end of the second round – which then saw him fight on, oozing blood, and effectively blinded for 30 minutes, before eventually suffering a narrow, split decision loss. Speaking during this week’s extensive podcast interview, both Crowe and Rogan described the Tszyu-Fundora bout as “crazy”, while the man f.