Heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk signs for Ukrainian soccer club Polissya for one season
Ukraine's heavyweight boxing champion and title defender Oleksandr Usyk attends a press conference in Warsaw, Poland, July 10, 2023, ahead of his fight against Britain's Daniel Dubois. Ukrainian soccer club Polissya Zhytomyr said Thursday July 20, 2023, it has signed unbeaten heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk to play for the team for one season. Credit: AP/Czarek Sokolowski
ZHYTOMYR, Ukraine — Ukrainian soccer club Polissya Zhytomyr's latest signing packs a real punch.
Polissya says unbeaten heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk will play for the top-tier team for one season after impressing in training.
The 36-year-old Usyk’s “attitude to training is a great example for the Polissya team,” club president Gennadiy Butkevich said Thursday on the club website, adding that it was the boxer’s love of soccer that made their collaboration possible.
“His childhood goal, to play senior football, will come true,” Butkevich said, though it is not clear how much the Ukrainian fighter will play.
Polissya initially announced the agreement on Wednesday, when it said Usyk will wear the No. 17.
Usyk, a formidable boxer with a 20-0 record (13 knockouts), holds the WBA, WBO and IBF belts after beating Anthony Joshua in 2021 and then defending them against the British fighter in their rematch in Saudi Arabia in August last year.
Usyk is set to defend the belts against Daniel Dubois on Aug. 26 at Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland. British fighter Dubois is the WBA mandatory challenger.
Usyk had hoped to fight Tyson Fury but negotiations broke down.
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