YUSUF DERDIYOK

Hello, I’m Yusuf Mert Derdiyok. As a child, I was very energetic and mischievous, and I was good at playing football. I grew up with my older brother — we used to go everywhere together and played football every day: at home, in the street, on the turf field. Sometimes, we even did American wrestling at home, which made our family really angry. Honestly, I had a beautiful childhood — I had almost everything I wanted.

As I approached adolescence, I started becoming introverted and quiet. Around that time, our football coach changed, and I began to lose interest in football. The new coach trained us too hard, but I just wanted to play matches and score goals — I didn’t like training. When I was about 13, I quit football and entered a phase in my life where I didn’t do any sports at all. I was never a good student, nor was I successful at school, because I didn’t want anything from it. I never dreamed of getting a diploma and working in some job.

At the time, my dad was financially well-off. We had a luxury Mercedes, and life was very comfortable. I was spoiled and carefree at that age. One day, when I was 13, I saw former national and Olympic boxer Adem Kılıççı on the TV show Survivor. That moment sparked my interest in boxing. I started researching boxers, and that’s when I discovered Anthony Joshua. It was 2017 — he had just beaten Klitschko and was at his peak. His physique, strength, and ambition made him look like a Greek god. That’s when I decided to start boxing. I said, “I’ll be like this guy.”

Then, we started looking into boxing gyms in Istanbul and met former boxer Arda Tamer Avcı. I began boxing with him at the Fenerbahçe Sports Club. At first, I trained three days a week, but after making quick progress, my coach told me I’d be training every day in a private gym. Within three months, I got my boxing license and had my first match in March 2018. I won in the first round and claimed my first local championship in the junior category.

At that time, I wanted to box and had big dreams, but I wasn’t making big sacrifices. I still went on outings with my family, ate whatever I wanted, and continued school while boxing. A year later, my family went through very tough times — my father lost his job, and our once-luxurious life turned into hardship. For the first time, I saw real financial struggle. Our dinner table, once full of variety, was reduced to a single dish. I saw scarcity for the first time — and for the first time, I saw my father cry. He hugged me and my brother and couldn’t hold back his tears.

That moment made me realize I had to do something real. I had to make sacrifices like a real man for my family, so I decided to drop out of school. It might sound wrong to you — it did to many people around me at the time. My dreams of boxing didn’t seem realistic to others, and truthfully, I wasn’t that good at the time. After quitting school, I started training twice a day — something I had never done before. Then I increased my training hours. But I was making a mistake — I was only watching Anthony Joshua and trying to imitate him. I weighed 65 kg, but I was trying to fight like a heavyweight. This held back my boxing IQ for a long time.

Years passed, and I kept winning local championships. Meanwhile, I had left Fenerbahçe and continued training with my coach at his own gym, Ata Boxing Club, from 2019 to 2021. We didn’t attend many matches, which hurt my progress. Then the pandemic hit — I couldn’t fight for a year and a half. In 2021, I competed in the Turkish championship and didn’t perform well. But a coach I had known from my Fenerbahçe days, Tuncay Tavukçu, suggested I return to Fenerbahçe for better opportunities. A month later, I was back.

At Fenerbahçe, there were great boxers. Training with them helped me realize I shouldn’t mimic Joshua — I had to fight like an amateur. I began studying the experienced boxers around me, learning from each of them. I needed to be more flexible, faster, more mobile, and throw more punches. As I trained with them, I improved significantly and competed in many matches and tournaments with Fenerbahçe, winning more local titles.

In amateur boxing, unless you achieve major international success, you earn very little. I wasn’t earning anything at the time. Athletes have expenses — and without income, nothing makes sense. I considered quitting. I told my father I needed a sponsor — otherwise, I couldn’t continue under such financial strain. He didn’t want me to quit boxing, so he called Fatih Erkoç, who is like an uncle to me, even though we have different surnames. After we met, he began covering all my sports-related expenses. That support gave me huge motivation — it pulled me back on track.

In 2023, I was supposed to go to the Netherlands to box through my sponsor, but my visa was denied. I was devastated. It felt like things just weren’t going to work out, and I started to lose my passion. Around that time, coach Bedir Tulgar joined our club and took a great interest in me. He was kind, ambitious, and helped me fall in love with boxing again. We trained as a team, not individually. I turned my frustration over the visa issue into motivation and hired a personal strength and conditioning coach. I had a “Mamba Mentality” that year — I started training three times a day. I entered three tournaments and did well, winning two championships and placing second in the third.

In 2024, I didn’t have a suitable partner at the club for preparing for matches — no sparring partner in my weight class. I told Tunçay Varol, the most experienced and best coach in our country and club, that I wanted to train with his son, professional boxer Berkay Varol, who weighed the same as me (80 kg). Our coach started calling us in early every morning for sparring while the gym was empty. That’s when my real rise began — my development phase started. I was training smarter and more consciously. We formed a real team — Coach Tunçay took us under his wing and trained us personally every morning. Training with him made you feel boxing in every cell of your brain and every muscle of your body. He has an incredible boxing IQ and mastery over everything in the ring.

He became my coach, and Berkay became my training partner. I improved tremendously. I became one of the best in the country in my weight class — a knockout artist who could predict every move my opponents made. When I stepped into the ring, people could see the difference. He has been coaching me for a year now.

In 2025, I’m getting older and shifting my focus to professional boxing. Through a friend, I met Barış Tunal. Our visions aligned, and thanks to his interest in me, I signed a professional contract with Tunal Academy. I have big dreams and goals, and I realized Tunal Academy is the right place for them. After signing, I packed my bags and came to Thailand, where I had my first professional match — I knocked out my opponent in the first round. I still have three more matches to complete here. It’s a strong start to my professional journey. Tunal Academy is planning my career very well, and I believe in them. Together, we’ll be a powerful team and achieve great things. I’m not just part of the Tunal Academy team — I’m part of the Tunal Academy family, and that makes me very happy.