Photo: klitschko/Instagram; AFP/Getty; lomachenkovasiliy/Instagram; usykaa/Instagram
Four renowned Ukrainian boxing champions have made a career of fighting — but sinceRussia invadedtheir homeland, they are taking on one of the world’s most powerful military forces. They’re engaged in a harrowing battle for their families and for their country.
Vitali, 50, is the current mayor of the capital city, Kyiv. Formerly known as “Dr. Ironfist,” he toldGood Morning Britainin a recent interview: “I don’t have another choice … I’ll be fighting.”
“We don’t want to live in [a] Russian empire,” said Vitali, who towers at 6'7" and 247 lbs. Citing his countrymens' iron “will” after years of simmering conflict with Russia, he says Ukrainians are sending Russia an unmistakable message: “Go back to home, away, [as] soon as possible.”
Vitali Klitschko.Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty
On Feb. 27, as the fighting grew closer to Kyiv, home to some 2.8 million people, Vitali posted a video address onFacebook.
“Friends! Dear Kyivans! Tonight will be difficult again. That is why our defenders are preparing to defend the capital,” he said. “And I urge Kyivites to spend this night in shelters. Because the enemy is Satan. Shoots peaceful homes. It continues to destroy our infrastructure.”
Still, Vitali said he had drawn resolve from how the Russians had already been resisted. “[Putin] bears heavy losses — both human and military equipment,” he continued. “Because, it seems, the Russians did not expect such a rebuff and such a spirit of the Ukrainian people. Both military and civilian. Our warriors are fighting heroically.”
He noted, “All over Ukraine. Our people have rallied to defend their state. The horde is trying to break through to Kyiv. But our residents are preparing to repel the aggressor. Today he was at the fortifications, which the people of Kiev are helping to build terrorists. That the enemy army didn’t get to our city. I want to support the Ukrainian fighters and thank the residents of Irpen, Vorzel, Bucha and Gostomel for their endurance where fierce fighting continues, because the enemy is rushing to Kiev. Hold on! Let’s stand together!”
Wladimir Klitschko in 2001.Sandra Behne/Bongarts/Getty
Last week, amid the first days of the conflict, he made an appeal onInstagramfor “the entire world to stop this war that Russia has started.”
On Feb. 28, he posted onInstagramin German and English, writing to a specific group of countries: “Dear friends in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, all other countries in free Europe: The citizens of Kyiv have had another hellish night. Four million people in my city have not slept.”
Wladimir said the people in Kyiv were “going through hell” and that “we need your help now.” He asked for donations to the National Bank of Ukraine so that the war “does not come knocking on your doors.”
Vasiliy Lomachenko.Yong Teck Lim/Getty
Three-weight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko wasvisiting a monastery in Greecewhen the war started. He immediately traveled to Bucharest, Romania, then drove for nine hours to take a ferry across a river into Ukraine. Manager Egis Klimas tells PEOPLE he’s in the Odessa area now, several miles from the bombing.
“The Bilgorod-Dnistrovsky Battalion of Territorial Defense is formed and armed,” the 34-year-old former champ and two-time Olympic gold medalist wrote in a recentFacebookphoto next to a photo of himself in fatigues with a weapon slung over his shoulder.
Lomachenko — who is 5'7" and 134 lbs. — has boxed in the lightweight, featherweight and super featherweight classes, and is often regarded as pound-for-pound the best boxer in the world.
“I believe that peace in the world should prevail and love should prevail,” Lomachenko said in an interview withFightHype.com. “Appreciate each other, respect each other, love each other. If we all respect each other we will live in peace and the world will be a better place.”
Maciej Luczniewski/NurPhoto via Getty
Usyk made his choice to return home so he could “defend my home, my family. It’s not that I went to fight somewhere at the frontline, I’m defending my home, I’m defending my wife, my children, my close ones,” toldCNNon Wednesday in an interview from his basement where he’s sheltering with his parents, family and closest friends.
Usyk, 35, told CNN his group of adults and children had come under shelling but were safe at the moment.
“We’re forcing ourselves to have fun,” he added.
“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,” he told CNN. “There’s just bafflement. How could this be in the 21st century?”
Naturally, Usyk has no clear idea of when he’ll return to boxing, saying, “My country and my honor are more important to me than a championship belt.”
Klimas, who’s also Usyk’s manager, says both of his boxers are “very, very disciplined, religious people, family people,” and Usyk especially “knows what he wants.”
He’s hoping he doesn’t have to use his weapon, but Klimas tells PEOPLE that some of theprisoners who were released from jailand given guns to defend the country are now robbing and looting, so the boxers are defending their homes and cities against multiple threats.
“If they will want to take my life or the lives of my close ones, I will have to do it,” said Usyk. “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.”
Last week Usyk posted a video onInstagramin which he implored to the Russian soldiers not to fight. He also called out Putin. “You can stop this war. Please just sit down and negotiate it with us without claims. Our kids, wives, grannies are hiding in the basements… We are here in our own country, we cannot do it other way - we are defending… Stop it! Stop this war. NO WAR !!!”
Chris McGrath/Getty
From the outskirts of Kyiv, Usyk has seen buildings bombed andpeople fleeing their houses. It’s in his nature to help, Klimas says. He buys food, diapers, water and other supplies for families.
“He already gave probably half of his clothing to people,” Klimas says, but there’s no telling how many people he’s helping. “In that situation, there’s nobody counting,” the manager says. Usyk and a friend even fixed a neighbor’s roof that had been hit.
He has a “big heart, big heart,” says Klimas.
The invasion has drawn condemnation around the world andincreasingly severe economic sanctionsagainst Russia.
In the world of athletics, many organizations, including theParalympicsandFIFA, have banned Russian athletes from competition. Other sporting organizations personally important to Putin have stripped him of previous honors: World TaekwondowithdrewPutin’s honorary 9th Dan black belt, and the International Judo Federation hasstrippedhim of his honorary title of president and ambassador.
With NATO forces massing in the region around Ukraine, peace talks have so far proven unsuccessful. And so the boxers continue their fight outside the ring.
Vitali Klitschko’s resolve is strong. He said in a Mayoral broadcast on the day Putin’s troops began their incursion: “I believe in Ukraine, I believe in my country and I believe in my people.”
source: people.com
