Yaroslav Amosov, the Klitschko brothers and the fighters standing for Ukraine | ‘I just thought about defending my country’ | News News

A year ago Russia launched its biggest invasion of a European country since World War II. Many Ukrainian athletes made extraordinary choices. To leave his sport and his career to serve on the front lines. Yaroslav Amosov is one of them.

Amosov, a mixed martial artist, is Bellator’s welterweight champion. He was due to defend his title against Michael Page, but backed out to stay in Ukraine when the fight broke out.

“At first, you’re shocked, it takes a few days to understand what’s going on,” Amosov said. Sky Sports.

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Take a look at some of Amosov’s best moments in the cage

“After we found out what happened to me and my friends and family, we grabbed our wives and children and parents and whoever we could gather and take them to a safe place.

“At that time the only thing on your mind is to defend your country. It was and still is. For me, that’s the most important thing. I don’t think about the battles I’ve fought. Up or the belt, or any of that. I just think about defend the country against the obviously brutal occupation that Russia is imposing.

“Hopefully this will be over and we can all get back to normal life. But until now things are still happening. It’s not over.”

Amosov is from Irpin, a town that was the center of Russian attacks until he was liberated.

He actually returned the title belt from his home after the bombing there had stopped.

“Before my mother left the house and left the city safely, she hid the belt. Then it was clear that the city had been liberated, a few days later, I said that I would return to the house and see if I could find it,” he recalled.

“You saw the video through the ruins, I found the belt and it’s good to see. It’s amazing to see and now this belt is symbolic and it’s kind of part of history.”

For the first time since the fight began, Amosov returns to competition on Saturday in Dublin to take on Logan Storley, who has been Bellator’s interim welterweight champion in his absence.

“The people who are close to me, the only way to get rid of me from all these wars, they say, ‘Hey, you have the opportunity to open up and tell the world directly what is happening here’. only motivation,” said Amosov .

“Obviously this is a very important fight. You have two champions, we unify the belts. Especially with everything that happened, it would be great to win this fight and take the belt back to my country and my fans.”

His mind, of course, is still with Ukraine.

“The war is still going on, many people are dying. Many of my friends are still dying. I heard all the news. It’s very difficult to hear. But I have to stay focused and I have to prepare. , “he said.

Amosov is from Irpin and remained in Ukraine during the invasion

“But at the same time it also makes you reevaluate life and only what people think is a problem. I see some people and what they think is a problem, they don’t know what the real problem is, so I think there is a problem. a lot of things in perspective .”

He added: “Now I’m focused on this fight. I want to overcome this fight and then I can’t wait to go back. I can’t wait to go back and see my family, see my friends and just Being there, now, we know a lot of difficulties, not only with the military action , but also lack of food and power and the homeless.

“It’s very difficult. It’s unbelievable difficult. Because it’s still there. A peaceful, civilian population bombed, for no reason. Just because they just want to live there. They didn’t do anything and didn’t hurt anyone. These are just people -people who go to work, come from work and suddenly, bombs hit the building and people just die.

“This is not a military installation, this is a civilian target for no reason and no one is safe. Anywhere in the country they can throw rockets, they can drop bombs. They can do whatever they want and civilians pay.

“It’s very difficult. It’s difficult to deal with. It’s difficult to understand what would compel a human being to do this to another human being who has done nothing for people.”

Amosov now wants to represent his country through sports

Athletes from other combat sports also want to represent Ukraine on the world stage. Unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk is one of the most famous.

“I am very happy with what Oleksandr Usyk has done. I think he spread the right message in the interview and his presence is very helpful for the country. I think he has done a very good job,” said Amosov.

Ukrainian boxer Serhii Bohachuk is another example. His motivation is the same as Amosov’s.

“He’s from Lviv, he got special permission to leave Ukraine, because he’s a world-class athlete, to continue his boxing career,” promoter Tom Loeffler said. Sky Sports. “Serhii Bohachuk just wants to keep the awareness of what is happening in the country, the struggle that is going on every day.

“He was literally there for six months during the war. The city was far from the fighting. But when the Russians started launching missiles, the center of the city was hit where there was a shopping mall and many people were killed, many more were injured. .

Past and present heavyweight champions Wladimir Klitschko and Oleksandr Usyk represented their country

“It’s one of those unpredictable situations with a missile attack, you don’t know what will be targeted. It seems like now they’re working on infrastructure but before that there were schools that were destroyed and hospitals,” Loeffler continued. “It’s unimaginable what people are going through.

“Bohachuk decided that, since his brother was in the military, he would continue his boxing career and fight for his country that way.

“He left his family, his brother is in the military war, his mother is there and his motivation now to fight for his country is increasing. He is not only fighting for his career but fighting for his country and fighting for the flag of Ukraine.”

Loeffler worked with the Klitschko brothers throughout their boxing careers. The former heavyweight champion is a major figure in Ukrainian society today. Wladimir Klitschko was one of the supporters of peace in Ukraine and Vitali Klitschko was the mayor of Kyiv during this war.

Both brothers were politically active during their boxing careers as well, starting with their involvement with the Orange Revolution, the popular protest movement that changed Ukraine.

Vitali Klitschko was the mayor of Kyiv during this war (Associated Press)

“Vitali is one of those fighters, he will fight anyone. He will not back down from a challenge. You see what he did with the whole revolution in Kyiv and now he is experiencing the war that is going on there,” said Loeffler.

“He is the best person I know to lead and motivate people like that. It is unimaginable that we are seeing war in Eastern Europe today.

“It’s really unimaginable,” he said. “Everything I heard about what happened there was unimaginable.

“He etched his place in the history of boxing with Vitali who is in the Boxing Hall of Fame and Wladimir who will get to the Hall of Fame. Now leading the country in a completely different fight is something that they are not trained for.

“You can train for boxing, you can do everything to win in the boxing ring, but then when your country is attacked you have to defend your country, you have to motivate them as a different battlefield.”