Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk Willing To Defend Ukraine To His Death

Boxing greats Oleksandr Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko, two close childhood friends, are prepared to exact revenge, not in the ring, but in their homeland — Ukraine.

Usyk is the current heavyweight champion, and Lomachenko has been champion in three different weight classes and was planning to fight lightweight champ George Kambosos in Australia in June. Both fighters are considered among the pound-for-pound best in the sport. But none of this matters to them now. They have journeyed to Ukraine, taken up arms and joined the territorial defense battalion to fight Russia which invaded their country on Feb. 24.

Usyk spoke to CNN via a video link from a Kyiv basement. He said he is willing to take a life, whether it be invading soldiers or looters. “If they will want to take my life, or the lives of my close ones, I will have to do it. But I don’t want that. I don’t want to shoot, I don’t want to kill anybody, but if they will be killing me, I will have no choice,” Usyk said.

He said boxing “has helped me to be calm and mentally prepared. And it helps me to help others who are panicking and nervous.”

He’s currently the IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO champion but isn’t thinking about boxing. “I really don’t know when I’m going to be stepping back in the ring,” Usyk said. “My country and my honor are more important to me than a championship belt.”

Both Usyk and Lomachenko were outside of Ukraine when Russia attacked. Usyk was in London, shooting sequences for an upcoming video game.

He planned to fly home, but with the airports closed, he flew to Warsaw, Poland and drove approximately 500 miles, crossing the border to Kyiv.

Lomachenko had been visiting a Greek monastery and returned home the next day. Instead of flying to his hometown of Odessa, he traveled to Bucharest, Romania, then drove for nine hours to the port and caught a ferry into Ukraine.

Usyk and Lomachenko’s manager said he didn’t know they were planning to take up arms until they had already enlisted for the defense battalion. Former heavyweight champions and brothers, Vitali – who is also the Kyiv mayor – and Wladimir Klitschko, have also taken up arms to defend Ukraine.

Usyk, who has three children, said family, friends and neighbors, along with the kids, are sheltering together. “When there is an air raid alarm, we hide. Of course, it’s fun when there are a lot of us here – we’re having fun. But we’re forcing ourselves to have fun” for the children.

Usyk also said he’s not afraid, saying: “Maybe, it’ll sound sentimental, but my soul belongs to the Lord and my body and my honor belong to my country, to my family. So there is no fear, absolutely no fear. There’s just bafflement – how could this be in the 21st century?”