Jeamie ‘TKV’ Tshikeva dreams of returning to DR Congo as the British heavyweight champion – stepping off the plane with the belt slung over his shoulder, showing the country of his parents and grandparents what one of their own has become.
In a nation once known as Zaire – where 60,000 people crowded into the capital Kinshasa for Muhammad Ali v George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle – such a homecoming would carry real weight.
“It would be a big statement,” the Tottenham-born Briton tells BBC Sport. “Maybe I could go there and do a Rumble in the Jungle 2.”
But this isn’t just a romantic idea of a boxer reconnecting with his roots.
The country that forged his family’s identity also drove them into exile, a land haunted by soldiers, coups, poisonings and deadly plots that took Jeamie’s grandfather and repeatedly targeted his father.
“Maybe eight, 10 years ago it probably wasn’t safe to return,” Jeamie adds. “But things have changed now.”
BBC Sport sits down with the 32-year-old, and speaks to his father Makasi, to piece together a tale of power, betrayal and survival which reads more like a political thriller than a family tree.
A story rooted in conflict, loyalty and survival
The story begins with Jeamie’s grandfather, Andre-Bruno Tshikeva, a senior figure in the Zairean army in the 1950s, when the country was under Belgian rule.
“In France and Belgium people study my grandad,” Jeamie says.
According to the family, Andre-Bruno was sent to Belgium and served as a bodyguard to King Baudouin. When Zaire became independent in 1960, he returned as a respected lieutenant in the army.
Five years later, he played a role in helping Mobutu Sese Seko – the authoritarian leader who seized power in 1965 – gain control in a military coup.
But in Mobutu’s Zaire, popularity was dangerous. In 1966 – in what became known as the ‘Pentecost Plot’ – Mobutu ordered the public hanging of four former cabinet ministers accused of conspiring against him.
Mobutu saw Andre-Bruno as a threat to his position, and the loyalty between them fractured.
He was sent to Kolwezi, a remote but strategically vital city – Jeamie’s father Makasi explains what happened next.
“My dad had no idea but Mobutu organised it and it was all set up to kill him,” Makasi says.
Soon after he arrived, a rebel force swept through the area.
“He killed some of those rebels, took his Jeep and he ran,” Makasi says. “He couldn’t understand why his own people were fighting him.”
Back in Kinshasa, Andre-Bruno was accused of enabling violence and killing innocents. He was arrested, condemned and imprisoned.
The attempts on his life continued and the method eventually shifted to poison. Even one of his 10 wives was supposedly paid to administer toxins.
After six years, Andre-Bruno was released from prison in 1973 on compassionate grounds when one of his wives died, but the damage was irreversible.
“You could smell toxins every time he went to the toilet,” Makasi says.
“After two years, with all the poison in his body, my dad died.”
‘I joined the army to avenge my dad’s death’
At 18, Makasi set his mind on settling the score.
“I joined the army to avenge my dad’s death,” he says. “My plan was to train very hard, move up the ranks and become Mobutu’s bodyguard. So when I get close to him, I could shoot him.”
But he never got close – the Tshikeva name was too well-known. “They had a plot to kill me, just like they did to my dad,” he says.
Still, Makasi rose quickly, becoming a commando instructor training elite units.
He was once invited to a private meal, only for the chef to warn he was to be poisoned.
During one training exercise, a rope he was meant to climb was allegedly loosened to send him plunging 80 feet. A friend warned him seconds beforehand, and Makasi switched ropes.
Eventually, with a new wife and young son, he fled. In 1991, he arrived in Tottenham.
“It’s funny how history repeats itself,” Jeamie says.
“My dad literally went through the same thing as my grandad. He just got lucky to get away.
‘Big Papa T’ – a wrestler’s new life in Tottenham
Throughout his youth, Makasi had been an avid wrestler – a hugely popular sport in DR Congo.
He continued wrestling in London under the name ‘Big Papa T’ and later opened a wrestling school in Haringey for local kids. He says he was even approached by the scripted world of WWE – known then as WWF – but chose to focus on raising his family.
But with a family history of political enemies, he never fully let his guard down.
“I was worried but you have to be ready,” he says. “There is no money in wrestling but I was training like a mad person. So if anyone gets close to me, I’ll kill you by hand – unless you shoot me.”
Jeamie grew up hearing these tales while north London offered its own lessons.
He witnessed the tension around the 2011 shooting of Mark Duggan and the riots that followed.
“It was a wild situation and I never thought it could escalate to some of my friends getting put into prison,” he says.
“It was emotional for the [Duggan] family members – I know a few of them. I sympathise more with the family than anything.”
Jeamie TKV – a boxer with his family’s fighting spirit
In another life, Jeamie might have been behind the camera this Saturday instead of under the lights. He graduated with a degree in Film and TV Studies from Middlesex University.
“Both of my parents had good lives in DR Congo. They didn’t come from struggle, they came from wealthy parents,” he says.
“My dad graduated uni in Africa and graduated over here too, so he’s an educated man. He could only want the same for his kids.”
But the family trait was always going to surface.
“My grandad was a fighting man. My dad was a fighting man. He did a lot of combat sports and made sure we all did it,” Jeamie adds.
Jeamie wrestled first – joking his name would have been ‘Big Papa T Jr’ – but moved to boxing, the more lucrative path.
He had 72 amateur bouts, represented DR Congo at the 2019 African Games in Rabat, where he won silver, and turned professional in 2022.
Now, with a British title opportunity – live on free-to-air BBC television – in front of him, TKV sees a route back to where his family’s story began.
And Makasi is equally excited by the prospect of returning home.
“They will love Jeamie in Congo when he arrives as a British champion,” he says. “There will be no problem. Let’s go.”
