Oleksandr Usyk starts boxing heavyweight title week with focus on war in Ukraine
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Oleksandr Usyk on July 14 during the presentation of piece of art destroyed during the war between Ukraine and Russia.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – World heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk kicked off the big fight build-up in London on July 14 with a focus on war in his native Ukraine rather than anything he might face in the ring.
The unbeaten 38-year-old Ukrainian boxer will face Britain’s Daniel Dubois, who holds the International Boxing Federation (IBF) championship, at Wembley Stadium on July 19.
This rematch will determine the undisputed heavyweight champion, with the Ukrainian’s World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Organisation (WBO) titles also at stake.
Usyk’s first public appearance was in the city’s Trafalgar Square to unveil a recreated Ukrainian “Kestrel” mosaic alongside British entrepreneur Richard Branson.
The original artwork, created in the now-Russian controlled port city of Mariupol in 1967, was severely damaged during the invasion that started in February 2022 and an identical copy has been funded by online retailer Rozetka and the Ukraine-wow agency.
Organisers say it will tour internationally as a symbol of repair and hope.
“Russia destroyed in my city, in my country, Russia destroyed hospitals, Russia destroyed schools, Russia destroyed Ukrainian lives,” Usyk told the crowd, thanking Britain for its support for Ukraine. “But we will survive. We will rebuild our country, like a mosaic, piece by piece.”
The boxer then walked, surrounded by bodyguards and a scrum of fans, to nearby Pall Mall for photographs in front of a statue of 19th century nurse Florence Nightingale and the 1853-56 Crimean War memorial.
The Nightingale statue was holding a prosthetic limb, painted in the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine, over her usual oil lamp.
Branson, who stood alongside Usyk, is a backer of the Superhumans centre specialist clinic in Lviv that treats and rehabilitates war victims.
Usyk, who was born in the Crimean city of Simferopol that was annexed by Russia in 2014, also launched a campaign through his foundation to raise funds to build four apartment buildings and house 64 displaced families in Ukraine.
The boxer spends time in Ukraine when not training in Spain and frequently references the situation in his country, campaigning for peace.
In June, he invited US President Donald Trump to live in his house in Ukraine for a week to help him understand what the country was going through.
“Only one week. I will give him my house. Live please in Ukraine and watch what is going on every night,” he told the BBC. “Every night there are bombs and flights above my house. Bombs, rocket. Every night. It’s enough.”
Usyk and Dubois will have open workouts on July 16, a final face-to-face press conference at Wembley on July 17 and the public weigh-in on July 18.
The fight, made by Saudi Arabia's Riyadh Season, is live on DAZN worldwide.
Meanwhile, the trilogy fight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano on July 11 was not only a win for the sport but could ultimately prove to be a game-changing moment for women’s boxing.
The highest-profile rivalry in women’s boxing, one fuelled by mutual respect and fierce competition, has transcended the sport since they first met in April 2022 and perhaps helped take women at least a step closer to equal footing with men in the sport.
Taylor swept the trilogy via majority decision on July 11 at New York’s Madison Square Garden to retain her undisputed super lightweight championship.
After the bout, Taylor’s long-time promoter Eddie Hearn said: “What they did tonight was give so many opportunities to so many great female fighters and big paydays and big opportunities.”
REUTERS
