Usyk wanted to leave the championship belts vacant after the start of a full-scale war

“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.