Oleksandr Usyk Urges IOC To Ban Russian Athletes From Olympic Games

Oleksandr Usyk is hoping the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will ban Russian athletes from the next Olympic Games.

Usyk – who’s the current IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight champion – is from Ukraine and has made it known he doesn’t want Russia apart of the games after they attacked Ukraine and started a war.

Former boxing champ, Wladimir Klitschko from Ukraine has also said that is his stance, but the IOC announced that Russia and Belarus can compete in the next Olympic Games but Usyk hopes the IOC changes their ruling.

“I am a Ukrainian athlete. I won an Olympic gold in boxing in 2012. I am the current world heavyweight champion,” Usyk said to IOC President Thomas Bach (via BoxingScene). “You want to allow Russian athletes to compete at the Olympics. Russian armed forces invaded our country and kill civilians. The Russian army is killing Ukrainian athletes and coaches and destroying sports grounds as well as sports halls. The medals that Russian athletes are going to win are medals of blood, deaths and tears.”

Oleksandr Usyk was forced to return to Ukraine last year to help his country defend Russia from the attacks. He like many pro boxers and fighters did that and after experiencing that, he doesn’t believe it is right for Russia to be a part of the Olympics.

After helping defend his country, Usyk went into training camp and earned a decision win over Anthony Joshua to defend his heavyweight title. The heavyweight champ is currently 20-0 and has won back-to-back fights against Joshua. Before moving up to heavyweight, he was the undisputed cruiserweight champion and has notable wins over Derek Chisora, Tony Bellew, Krzysztof Glowacki, Murat Gussiev, and Marco Huck among others.

As of right now, Usyk does not have his next fight booked, but he is in talks to have an undisputed heavyweight fight against Tyson Fury.