Boxing champ Lomachenko returns to Ukraine to defend his people from Putin
UKRAINIAN former world boxing champ Vasyl Lomachenko has returned to the country and enlisted in the territorial army in order to defend his people from Russian troops.
Vasyl Lomachenko shows off intense training at the gym
The accompanying message read: “The Belgorod-Dniester Territorial Defense Battalion has been formed and armed. Boxer Vasyl Lomachenko is in the defense.”
In order to complete the journey, Lomachenko first has to travel to the Romanian capital of Romania, and from there on to Odessa.
Lomachenk won consecutive gold medals, the first at featherweight, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the second at lightweight, four years later in London.
He won his most recent bout, for the WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title, against Richard Commey at Madison Square Garden in New York on December 11.
Lomachenko is not the only high-profile boxer to swap boxing gloves for a military uniform - Vitali Klitschko, 50, and brother Wladimir, 45, both former heavyweight champions, have also vowed to fight for their country.
The elder Klitschko, who is now mayor of the city, yesterday insisted there were no Russian troops in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, which he said was holding strong against attacks.
In total, Klitschko said 31 people died in Kyiv since the attacks began, including nine civilians, with 106 people injured. He wrote on his Telegram channel: "Our military, law enforcement and territorial defence continue to detect and neutralise saboteurs.”