Reigning world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has left war-torn Ukraine to begin his preparation for a rematch with Britain’s Anthony Joshua, his manager told AFP on Friday.

The 35-year-old holder of the WBA, IBF and WBO belts came back to Ukraine to defend his family as soon as Russia invaded his home country on February 24.

“He went abroad to prepare for the rematch,” Usyk’s Kyiv-based manager, Yaroslav Lordkipanidze, told AFP by phone.

He said that Usyk left “several days ago”, without providing further details of his current whereabouts.

Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.