Oleksandr Usyk, the WBO, IBF, WBA world heavyweight champion, said that after the start of a full-scale war with Russia, he wanted to leave his championship belts vacant because he could not think about boxing.
“At that moment, I didn’t think about boxing ... I didn’t even have any thoughts about boxing. There were even thoughts such as to release the belts, so that the guys would fight for them further, and then, as soon as everything was over, we would come back and say: "Well, this is the situation, let's have some options or something else."
Alexander also said that the military told him not to quit boxing, to prepare for a rematch with Joshua, and this became his motivation.
