Three weeks before his death, the well-known Ukrainian boxer Volodymyr Virchis published a post on social networks in which he said that he was going through hard times and was trying to start life from scratch.
The news of Virchis's death was commented on by Vice President of the Professional Boxing League of Ukraine and his close friend Alina Shaternikova.
"The last time we saw him was in January, after his Facebook post. There was a feeling that we needed to see each other, talk. We drank tea for three hours in the attic of his house, where he made a museum room with his trophies and prizes .
“We discussed the situation that caused him to become depressed. He could not believe that a loved one had betrayed him, it did not fit in his head. They were close people, trusted him. We talked a lot about this, philosophized that life, alas, sometimes presents us with such "surprises". Probably, he strongly trusted, somewhere even with childish naivety he believed in friendship.
"The mood to commit suicide? No, there were no such conversations on his part then during our last meeting. Then we also called each other, talked. A heavy loss, it is still hard to talk about him in the past tense. God grant his wife Irina, daughters to endure this pain and the loss of a person whom they loved very much, they blew off dust particles from him.
“We met Volodya in 1999 or 2000 when he came to the boxing gym. He was a merry fellow, a sociable guy, he had a lot of jokes. In any company, Virchis communicated with a positive attitude. He was the soul of the company.
“He may not have been the most disciplined boxer, but very talented and fearless. Volodya once admitted that in his career he even jumped above his head. Even if he was not at the peak of his form, he always believed in himself and entered the ring confident in himself. It is a pity that we lost such a person and friend in the prime of our lives," Shaternikova said.
“There were also reports of suicide and that he was owed a lot of money. Because of the latter, he allegedly could have been killed. By the way, they say that he was an impressionable person. I recently had COVID-19, I wrote about it on my page. He wrote that it was hard for him, but he would find the strength to fight. The main thing is to have a mind, and the rest is something that will come with time,” commented the Press Secretary of the Boxing Federation of Ukraine Pavlo Dobryansky, commenting on the situation with the death of the boxer.
The Kiev police reported that Virchis was found hanging on the structure of one of the buildings and no traces of violent death and struggle were previously found:
“There is a building near the high-rise building, either an office or a boiler room, where he was found hanged. As for the versions, they are being worked out. There was no suicide note with him. The police are talking with his wife, finding out the reasons," said Oksana Lishchuk, press officer of the Dnipro Police Department in Kiev.
