Tszyu opens up on Kostya's demons ahead of US reunion

Tim Tszyu has revealed the dark aftermath to his father's most devastating defeat and how, amid the bitter fallout, he thought his own professional boxing career might be over before it even began.

Australian boxing's most decorated father-son duo are set for an emotional reunion when Kostya walks Tszyu to the ring to face unbeaten Russian Bakhram Murtazaliev in an IBF blockbuster in Florida on Sunday.

Tszyu is striving to emulate his Hall of Famer dad as a multiple world champion at the Caribe Royale resort in Orlando, where Kostya will watch live for the first time since his son's debut nine years ago in Sydney.

The son of a gun's date with destiny was but a pipedream after Kostya left his family for a new one in his native Russia some three years after suffering a career-ending pummelling at the hands of Ricky Hatton in 2005.

Tszyu was only a soccer-loving 10-year-old when Hatton battered and broke his father in Manchester, relinquishing the one-time unified world champ of his IBF super-lightweight belt and sending the shattered Kostya into retirement.

"It was a hard part in dad's life," Tszyu told AAP.

"So I remember my dad was going through a bit and it was hard for the family. It was very hard.

"Yeah, I remember when dad lost. I don't remember the fight too much but I remember it was a real dull-type feeling."

More than decade after his sabbatical, the 29-year-old has come full circle and can't wait to have his father ringside, unlike the night of his debut when "chaos" reigned with Kostya omnipresent and screaming instructions to the point of distraction.

"It's not that I need dad there," Tszyu said.

"I want him there.

"I think he's more nervous about behaving himself, but I'm looking forward to it. I'm quite excited.

"It's a big moment for me and what has changed is the fact that I've grown and I know how to eliminate all distractions and it's not up to who's around me.

"It's up to myself."