Vasiliy Lomachenko, a former world champion and Top 10 pound-for-pound boxer, has joined his country’s Territorial Defense Forces to help Ukraine fight off the Russian invaders.
Lomachenko, 34, posted a pic to Facebook on Sunday in which he could be seen wearing a military uniform with a rifle.
According to ESPN:
The 34-year-old was in Greece when the invasion began, and his flight home to Ukraine on Friday was delayed due to air traffic being grounded. He flew into Bucharest and traveled through Romania on Saturday to reach his home outside of Odessa to be with his family.
Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs), a former three-division champion, is closing in on a June 5 fight in Australia against undisputed lightweight champion George Kambosos, a title bout that would be televised on June 4 in the United States on ESPN. Lomachenko agreed to his side of the deal earlier this month.
Lomachenko is not the only Ukrainian boxer who has taken up arms in defense of Ukraine. Hall of Fame former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, who is the mayor of Kyiv, has remained in the capital city and joined the reserve army along with his brother and fellow Hall of Famer and former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
Heavyweight boxing champion, turned Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, talks to AFP journalists at his office in Kyiv on February 10, 2022. (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
“We are so proud of our boxers, our real champions in boxing and champions in this war,” Mykola Kovalchuk, president of WBC Ukraine, told ESPN. “We are proud to be Ukrainians.”