Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk said wounded soldiers in a Ukrainian hospital urged him to ¡°fight for the country¡± by facing Anthony Joshua again and that he hoped to bring some joy to the people back home with his rematch against the Briton.
Usyk beat Joshua in front of a sellout crowd at London¡¯s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last September to take the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts, and the pair are set to meet in a rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Aug. 20.
¡°I really didn¡¯t want to leave our country, I didn¡¯t want to leave our city,¡± Usyk told reporters. ¡°I went to the hospital where soldiers were wounded and getting rehabilitation from the war.
¡°They were ... asking me to go, to fight, to fight for the country, fight for your pride and if you¡¯re going to go there, you¡¯re even going to help more for our country.
¡°I know a lot of my close people, friends, close friends, are right now in the front line and fighting. What I¡¯m doing right now, I¡¯m just supporting them, and with this fight I wanted to bring them some kind of joy in between what they do.¡±
Following Russia¡¯s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a ¡®special operation,¡¯ Usyk returned to Kyiv to join a territorial defense battalion.
The 35-year-old added that he would not fight in the military once he returned to his homeland after the bout.
¡°Every day (I) was there, I was praying and I was asking God, ¡®please God, don¡¯t let anybody to try to kill me¡¯,¡± Usyk said. ¡°¡¯Please don¡¯t let anybody to shoot me. And please don¡¯t let me to shoot anybody, any other person¡¯.¡±
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