Volodymyr Klitschko to support Usyk in Riyadh

Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk will have a lot of support during his fight with British boxer Tyson Fury on the night of 18-19 May. Oleksandr's wife Kateryna is already in the Saudi Arabian capital. Among the guests of honour will be Hennadii Butkevych, the chairman of FC Polissya Zhytomyr, and the famous football agent Vadym Shablii.

But Champion, a sports news platform within Ukrainska Pravda’s holding company, stressed that the main surprise would be the appearance in Riyadh of world boxing legend and former world champion Volodymyr Klitschko, which has not been officially announced.

Interestingly, Usyk now holds the same championship titles – WBA, IBF, WBO – that Volodymyr had before his fight with Tyson Fury in 2015. Their fight took place in Dusseldorf, Germany. Klitschko unexpectedly lost to Fury on points. The contract for the fight stipulated a rematch if Klitshcko lost, but Tyson Fury never granted it, twice cancelling the already announced fight.

At the time, Fury began to abuse alcohol and drugs, and eventually had his boxing licence revoked. Klitschko became a hostage to the situation, not having fought a single fight in 2016 in anticipation of a rematch with Fury.

The last time Klitschko supported Usyk at the ring was in January 2018, when Oleksandr defeated Mairis Briedis in the Latvian capital Riga in a championship fight. It is interesting that the Latvian will also take part in the Kingdom Arena against Australian Jai Opetaia, and the IBF cruiserweight world title will be at stake.

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