Oleksandr Usyk lost 10kg in just one week after Russia invaded Ukraine

Anthony Joshua previews his fight with Oleksandr Usyk

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Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua will go head-to-head in the ring on Saturday as the two heavyweights battle it out for the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titles. The rematch comes 11 months after the pair’s initial clash, which saw Joshua lose by unanimous decision and Usyk take the belts in the Watford-born boxer’s backyard. Now, Joshua is seeking to regain the titles for the second time in his career as he takes on the unbeaten Ukrainian.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest Ukrainian boxers of all time, Usyk has gradually risen up the ranks to become one of only three boxers to have unified the cruiserweight division and become a world heavyweight champion.

Usyk, who is also called Sasha, was born in the Crimean city of Simferopol but now lives with his family in Kyiv.

Back in April, he was stripped of his Crimean honours after he enrolled in the Ukraine territorial army.

Months earlier, he had returned to his home country, having been visiting London for a football game, to sign up with the Kyiv Territorial Defense after Russia carried out a full-blown invasion.

The boxer was so crushed by the devastating news that Vladimir Putin had led an invasion of Ukraine that he lost 10kg in a week.

Usyk’s wife has claimed he dropped one-and-a-half stone in seven days after Putin pursued his war on Ukraine on February 24.

Kateryna, who has been married to Usyk for almost 13 years, told PravdaTUT: “Sasha lost 10 kilograms in a week of the war. He was so horrified, in such shock, he was so torn apart.

“He saw what I was doing. I said: ‘Sasha, please, people are asking, you need to speak, somehow support’.

“It is very difficult for him. At first he digested it inside. Well, firstly, let’s be honest, we have never been in such a situation before.

“Our entire generation could never have imagined this. And here it is, a shock.

“To be honest, he doesn’t really like giving interviews in normal, peacetime anyway. Now it’s difficult for him, of course, but he still goes on the air, says something.”

She continued: “His position is clear. He has always been for Ukraine, he has always glorified it and will glorify it for as long as he has enough health and strength.

“Now he understands how important for him, let’s say, even the next fight.

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“For him, every fight is important, but now, when blood is shed in your country, you want to glorify Ukraine, you want to be proud of it.

“I’m just so proud that I’m from Ukraine, that I’m Ukrainian! Thank God that this happened.”

Usyk, 35, put his career on hold to fly back to his home nation and join the Ukrainian army.

He was one of the athletes, which included the Ukraine national football team who took part in World Cup qualifiers abroad, who were ultimately granted special dispensation to leave Ukraine.

The heavyweight was initially training in Poland but has also been pictured sparring in Dubai.

He will return to the ring for the first time since the invasion began when he fights Joshua in Jeddah.

When asked previously about the situation in Ukraine, Usyk said: “”My friends — people close to me — have died in the war,” dismissing a suggestion that it would give him extra motivation to beat Joshua again.

He continued: “When so many people are suffering, I don’t have any idea how it can influence anything positively.

“I was there for one month: I saw with my own eyes what happened there, rockets flying and fighter jets flying. It’s horrible.

“Every day I was there, I was praying and asking: ‘Please, God, don’t let anybody try to kill me. Please don’t let anybody shoot me. And please don’t make me shoot any other person.’

“I really didn’t want to leave our country. I didn’t want to leave our city. At one point, I went to the hospital where soldiers were wounded and getting rehabilitation and they asked me to go, to fight [Joshua] for the country.

“They said: ‘If you go there, you’re going to help our country even more instead of fighting inside Ukraine.'”

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