Few sports have done as much as boxing to enhance and strengthen the identity and self-esteem of Ukraine. Its great champions have carried the flag of their country around the world and share an idolatry and popular respect that is not enjoyed by representatives of other disciplines. They are fully aware of what they represent for millions of their compatriots and they believe that sporting glory and their personal fortunes do not exempt them from their social responsibility, rather it commits them. For this reason, given the seriousness of the hour, they undoubtedly assumed a position in the defense of the nation. Without claiming privileges or exclusions.
The brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko were the kings of the heavyweight category at the end of the ’90s and the beginning of the third millennium and their celebrity reached so much that Vitaly jumped into politics and since 2014 he is the mayor of Kiev, the country’s capital. He is in charge of the civilian aspects of the resistance operation preparing to prevent his fall at the hands of the Russian army. It must guarantee that, while the conflict lasts, there is a sufficient supply of electricity, gas, water, food and medicine for the population and the military contingents.
For its part, his brother Wladimir made it clear that if he has to go out to defend his city in the streets, he will be in the front line of battle as one more citizen, without the slightest fear of losing his life in combat. “It is love, love for my city, my home, my family, my neighbors, my daughter that has brought me to take this initiative and now I participate in this territorial defense,” Wladimir Klitschko wrote last week on his social networks. . According to some information released in New York and London, the Klitschko brothers would appear on a list of 23 Ukrainian personalities that a group of 400 Russian mercenaries is seeking to execute.
Vasyl Lomachenko is the superstar of Ukrainian sports. Two-time Olympic champion at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games and three-time world champion as a professional in the featherweight, junior lightweight and lightweight categories, he is considered one of the three best boxers today, although he currently does not hold any title. When Russia invaded his country, “Loma” did not hesitate: he interrupted training for his fight on July 5 in Australia against the unified lightweight champion George Kambosos and enrolled in the Belgorod-Dnestrovsky Territorial Defense Battalion. . His photo, armed and in military uniform, is a strong message to strengthen the pride and morale of the Ukrainian people.
Oleksandr Usyk, world heavyweight champion for the Association, the Organization and the International Federation, did not want to be outdone. And it was also incorporated into the Kiev Territorial Defense Force. His promoters were trying to close the title rematch against England’s Anthony Joshua by September, but have stopped negotiations. They know that as long as the war continues, Usyk will not return to the gym. “We are in our country, we cannot do anything but defend ourselves. It is time to unite,” Usyk said on his social networks, in which he also urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war. “Please sit down and negotiate with us.” . Our children, wives, grandparents, hide in the basements,” said the three-time heavyweight champion, imbued, like his colleagues, with the same brave spirit that they express every time they get into the ring to fight for their country.