- High-level
Ukraine fighters will leave the war with Russia to compete in bigboxing bouts. Oleksandr Usyk fights Anthony Joshua in August andVasiliy Lomachenko returns in October.
High-level fighters are leaving Ukraine's war with Russia to compete in boxing's biggest bouts.
Numerous athletes put their pro careers in combat
Oleksandr Usyk, a Ukraine Olympic hero who unified championship belts at cruiserweight and heavyweight, joined the Kyiv Territorial Defense in February and can be seen holding an assault rifle in one photograph.
Vasiliy Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-weight world champion boxer, joined a territorial defense battalion also in February.
Both are returning to the ring in the coming months, with Usyk in particular tasked to deliver a "special" pro-Ukraine message from Wladimir Klitschko and Ukraine mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Usyk defends his recently won world titles against Anthony Joshua in a mega match
Usyk produced the performance of a lifetime when he bamboozled Anthony Joshua in the British boxer's backyard in London, and left the city last year with three of boxing's four major heavyweight championships.
He is contractually bound to a lucrative rematch which Saudi Arabia hosts at its Jeddah Super Dome on August 20.
"A very important message could be carried through an event like this," Vitali said in April, according to Boxing Scene.
"We do not know if in three months we will exist. I actually have plans to speak to Oleksandr Usyk to give him advice if he decides to make the fight, to have some special messages that he can put out there."
Usyk appealed to Russian people in one video earlier this year. "If you consider us brotherly people, do not let your military, your children, go to our country. Stop attacking us!
"I also appeal to [Russia] President [Vladimir] Putin. Stop this war! Don't give us ultimatums and declare your conditions, just sit down at the negotiating table. We need to talk and stop everything.
"Our children, our mothers, grandmothers, and ordinary people, are hiding in basements," said Usyk. "We are on our own land, we act as we have to, we are protecting ourselves. Stop it. Stop this war."
Lomachenko likely returns to the ring against an unnamed opponent in October
Lomachenko is also linked with a return to the ring in October, according to an ESPN report this month which cites Top Rank president Todd DuBoef as its source.
It remains unclear whom Lomachenko would return to the ring against, or where exactly the fight would be held.
But Lomachenko, like Usyk, will likely deliver anti-war sentiment during the build-up to his bout.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and, in the months since, more than 12.8 million people have been displaced as multiple cities in that country have been shelled.
More than 4,000 civilians have been killed there, according to the UN.