Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk prepared to ‘take a life’ after joining Ukraine defence forces following Russian invasion

Heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk says he is prepared to take a life to defend his family following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The reigning IBF, WBO and WBA champion returned to his homeland last week and has since enlisted in the territorial defence battalion.

Usyk was pictured in military attire carrying an assault rifle on Monday and speaking to CNN from a basement in Kyiv, the 35-year-old insisted he has ‘no fear’ and is prepared to go to any lengths to defend himself and his loved ones.

‘If they will want to take my life, or the lives of my close ones, I will have to do it,’ Usyk said.

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‘But I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to shoot, I don’t want to kill anybody. But if they will be killing me, I will have no choice.

‘I’m not afraid anymore. Maybe it will sound somewhat sentimental or something but my soul belongs to the Lord and my body and my honour belong to my country, to my family.

‘So there is no fear. Absolutely no fear. There is just bafflement. How could this be in the 21st century.’

Usyk clarified he has not joined Ukraine’s defence forces to ‘fight on the frontline’, insisting it is his duty to protect his family from those trying to take advantage of the dire situation.

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‘It is my duty [to fight], to defend my home, my family. It’s not that I went to fight somewhere at the frontline. I am defending my home, I am defending my wife, my children, my close ones.