Former heavyweight boxing champions Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine are leading some of the resistance from the mayor’s office in beleaguered Kyiv
The two big men standing shoulder to shoulder in The Associated Press photo taken Sunday in the mayor’s office in beleaguered Kyiv, Ukraine, were instantly recognizable to most boxing fans. Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, the sons of a Soviet major general, are both former heavyweight champions and whenever one was in the ring, the other was always helping from the corner. Now they’re in a fight unlike any they ever imagined. The prize for this one isn’t a gaudy championship belt but the survival of their country. Vitali Klitschko is helping lead it as mayor of Kyiv. His younger brother plays the role of chief second. They’re a formidable pair, ready to do whatever it takes to defend their country against invading Russians. So far that hasn’t included armed combat, but both have made it clear they will fight in the streets if it comes to that. And, in a rich Ukrainian boxing community, they’re not alone. Vasiliy Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who some consider the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, hastily flew home from Greece to don combat fatigues as a member of a defense battalion. He was pictured on his official Facebook page over the weekend with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder near Odessa. “The Belgorod-Dnestrovsky Territorial Defence Battalion has been formed and armed,” the caption read. “In the territorial defence, boxer Vasiliy Lomachenko informed the mayor.” The current heavyweight champion is also in on the fight. Oleksandr Usyk returned home from London when Russia invaded his country and, instead of preparing for a possible rematch against Anthony Joshua this spring, he is getting ready to fight against Russians in his native land. Both are potentially losing million dollar paydays – in Usyk’s case, the biggest purse of his career in a rematch with Joshua. But defending a belt and defending a country are two very different things.
