When The Butcher comes to town, it's only fitting that he gets the Tszyucastle treatment.
We renamed the Entertainment Centre in honour of brother Tim Tszyu back in 2021, but boxer Nikita Tszyu had a monster in mind on his visit to his adoptive home city this week.
It came in two wagyu beef patties, an egg, bacon, double cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, and barbecue sauce.
The son of the legend, Kostya Tszyu, was staying with his entourage at the Kingsley ahead of his bout with reigning national super-welterweight champion Dylan Biggs on Wednesday night and had been in and out of the local burger joint next door when the idea was struck to create a protein power punch worthy of a fighter's appetite.
Tszyu and Rascal owners Tim Montgomery and Ty Burford were connected through a mutual friend, musician Abie Wright. Before long, the Tszyucastle was coming to life on the grill for a one-day-only burger behemoth.
"It's huge," Mr Montgomery said, "When they sent the recipe through, I thought 'this is going to be a big burger'. We put it together today for our social media, and yeah, it's massive. It will stop someone in their tracks."
The burger was designed by Tszyu's No Limits Boxing outfit and delivered to the King Street Rascal store just in time for Wednesday's trading.
Mr Montgomery, a mad boxing fan, was stoked to be surrounded by the No Limits Boxing set ahead of the fight and said sales of the one-day-only burger of the day have been flying off the grill.
"The moment we put it online, we had people coming through ordering it," he said, "We don't keep many eggs in the fridge at Rascal, and we had to go and get more because it was just selling so much.
After a massive weekend in the Hunter just gone, a Beatles visit before that, and now a blockbuster mid-week fight night, Mr Montgomery said the buzz around Newcastle has turned up.
"I think anything like this is great for Newcastle," he said, "Newcastle has evolved, and it's appropriate now for the city to hold these massive events because we've got the hotels, we've got the infrastructure, we can host really well now.
"It's an exciting city."
