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Page 1The Fighter
Page 2 Wladimir Klitschko is also there in Riyadh
Outside the ring, Olexander Ussyk is a quiet, unassuming character. When he appears in front of the press, he appears stoic, almost uninterested. While his opponent Tyson Fury is known as a loudmouth who verbally attacks everything and everyone, Ussyk only says a few words. He only gets louder when it comes to Ukraine.
Just four days ago, he called on Instagram to donate money to his foundation to finance 50 ambulances for Ukraine. “Let’s embrace the opportunity and counter evil with good deeds,” he wrote at the end of the post.
That’s why the duel on Saturday evening in Riyadh, described as “one of the greatest fights of all time”, will not only be about the belts of four well-known boxing organizations. It won’t just be about the status of the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 25 years, about the successor to Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson. But also about the war in Usyk’s homeland.
The Ukrainian has long been a folk hero between Kharkiv and Lviv. Ussyk, the descendant of a Crimean Tatar, is currently probably the most popular athlete in his country. Also because he was once at the front himself. As recently as February 2022, the month of the Russian attack, Ussyk traveled to the front lines to fight against Russia. As a top athlete worth millions, Ussyk would also have money and thoughts and prayers to the Ukrainian soldiers. Instead, he became one himself.
In June 2022, Ussyk told the Guardian: “Every day that I was on patrol I prayed to God: Please don’t let someone try to kill me. But also: Please God, don’t let me have to shoot another human being because “I knew I had to if I was in danger or my family’s life was in danger. It only took one day of war to understand that I could lose everything I have in just one second.” His former teammate Olexij Dschunkivskyj died in the war.
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A good year later he spoke to the in another interview Daily Mail about his frontline experience. “With the binoculars I saw my enemies running 900 meters away. I saw tanks exploding. I saw houses destroyed. I saw people without legs, without arms. And I also saw some people running, but to me they looked like as if they were dead.” He talked about abandoned cities and children’s toys in ruins. Ussyk now wears the chub, the traditional hairstyle of the Ukrainian Cossacks, a strand on an otherwise closely shaved head. A tattoo of the Ukrainian coat of arms adorns his right upper arm.
Outside the ring, Olexander Ussyk is a quiet, unassuming character. When he appears in front of the press, he appears stoic, almost uninterested. While his opponent Tyson Fury is known as a loudmouth who verbally attacks everything and everyone, Ussyk only says a few words. He only gets louder when it comes to Ukraine.
Just four days ago, he called on Instagram to donate money to his foundation to finance 50 ambulances for Ukraine. “Let’s embrace the opportunity and counter evil with good deeds,” he wrote at the end of the post.
