‘I was praying: don’t let anybody kill me’ – Oleksandr Usyk on life in Ukrainian army
Oleksandr Usyk, the IBF, WBA and WBO world heavyweight champion, is one of the greatest fighters on the planet but he is not embarrassed to express the fear he felt this year as a soldier in the Ukrainian army. Soon after Vladimir Putin unleashed Russia’s onslaught on Ukraine on 24 February, Usyk and his friend Vasiliy Lomachenko, another of the best boxers in the world, joined the military. But as he patrolled the streets, carrying a machine gun rather than boxing gloves, dread gripped Usyk.