Eating his wife’s placenta and drinking breast milk: The weird world of Nikita Tszyu
By Robert Dillon and Frances Howe
Nikita Tszyu will consume a double dose of his wife’s placenta before returning to the boxing ring on Wednesday night for his first bout in 12 months.
Washing it down with her breast milk is an optional extra.
Nikita Tszyu will take on Lulzim Ismaili in a WBO intercontinental super-welterweight title fight.Credit: No Limit Boxing/Gregg Porteous
Tszyu’s bizarre dietary habits have provided plenty of food for thought as the unbeaten 27-year-old prepares to take on German-based Macedonian Lulzim Ismaili at the ICC Sydney Theatre in their WBO intercontinental super-welterweight title fight.
Since his daughter Curiosity was born two months ago, Tszyu has joined his wife – also named Nikita – in consuming her placenta.
“My wife found out about it,” he explained. “She found out that there’s a lot of ancient cultures that harvest the placenta, and it was packed with all these vitamins. And she asked me and I was like, ‘Hell yeah.’
“We just got it freeze-dried by some hippie lady, and she gave us a bunch of capsules of it.”
Nikita Tszyu is one of sport’s quirkiest characters.Credit: Getty Images
Tszyu said he takes two pills at a time but has to “ration” them, because of the limited supply.
“I’ve got to wait until the next baby so I can get some more,” he said. “I can’t just smash through them.”
He swears by the benefits of the dietary “supplement”.
“I’ve actually experimented with it, with some trainings for having it, not having it, and I feel a huge difference,” he said.
As for whether he will pop a couple of placenta pills in the countdown to Wednesday night’s stoush, he replied: “Oh yeah, of course. I’ll probably take two sets, two doses.”
If you were thinking freeze-dried capsules don’t sound too difficult to stomach, Tszyu admitted they’re not for the squeamish.
“It’s weird. It’s very strong and potent,” he said.
As for his wife’s breast milk, he has quickly acquired a taste for it, although he added: “I’ve only had it once or twice.”
Tszyu has never been shy when it comes to experimenting with his diet. As well as chowing down on bull’s testicles, raw liver and a pig’s eye, he once ate the heart of a snake and drank its blood during a training camp in Thailand.
Lulzim Ismaili (left) and Nikita Tszyu face off in Sydney on Monday.Credit: No Limit Boxing/Gregg Porteous
“They cut it [the snake] up in front of us,” he said. “And they poured the blood into a shot glass.
“Usually they mix it with an alcohol. But I was close to a fight and I was like, ‘Please, no rum. Just give me the heart and blood.’
“I chewed it. It wasn’t bad. The snake’s blood was actually delicious. It was like herby.”
Surprisingly, there are some food items Tszyu gives a wide berth.
“I’m pretty fussy with some things,” he said. “I don’t like mushrooms. I don’t like beetroot, celery.
“Organs and meats and stuff, they don’t taste nice, but I’ll have them anyway, just to say I had it.”
Unbeaten in the first 10 fights of his professional career, Tszyu is looking forward to his first bout since beating fellow Sydneysider Koen Mazoudier last August.
During his 12 months out of the ring, he underwent extensive surgery to repair a broken knuckle and torn tendon in his left hand.
Ismaili, his opponent on Wednesday, is also undefeated and has won six of his 12 previous professional bouts by knockout.
“Two men go into this ring and they fight it out until death,” said Tszyu, the younger son of boxing legend Kostya Tszyu and brother of former world junior-middleweight champion Tim Tszyu.
“That’s the kind of mentality I’m going into it with, and I hope that’s the same mentality he’s going in with.
“It’s a crazy way to make a living, but I’ve learnt to embrace it.”
Other high-profile fighters on Wednesday’s undercard include Michael Zerafa – a no-show at Monday’s press conference – and Sydney’s Brock Jarvis.
Consuming the placenta after childbirth has increased in popularity after celebrities such as Kim Kardashian publicised ingesting their own for supposed health benefits to recover after giving birth.
While Tszyu and Kardashian took it in pill form, after the placenta has dried, it can also be consumed as a smoothie.
Businesses offer placenta services that typically range from $250 to $450.
Many women who have ingested their placenta say it helps with recovery and post-natal depression, though there is sparse scientific evidence that there are any health benefits and, in some instances, could adversely affect the health of the mother and baby.
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