18/07/2025
How Lviv Helped Forge Oleksandr Usyk’s Fierce Patriotic Spirit
By Lviv Times Chief Editor Lee Reaney
In the champ’s corner - the city that prides itself on being the last bastion, and the crusading sword of Ukrainian patriotism: Lviv.
When heavyweight champion of the world, 2012 Olympic champion, and all-around Ukrainian hero Oleksandr Usyk puts his three heavyweight titles, as well as his unblemished professional record, on the line tomorrow night against Great Britain’s Daniel Dubois, he knows he’ll have the Western Ukrainian capital in his corner.
Lviv has played a surprisingly important role in the life of the champ and his carefully crafted image as a modern-day Cossack.
The city has also played a large part in Usyk’s career - he studied at Lviv’s Ivan Boberskyi Lviv State University of Physical Culture, trained for his first post-amateur fights with the Ukrainian Otamans of the World Series of Boxing, and won his first professional belt at the city’s Arena Lviv.
Yes, when ‘The Cat’ enters the ring in front of 90,000 fans in London’s Wembley Stadium tomorrow night, the influence of Lviv will be unmistakable - from his ring walk through to his post-victory hopak dance.
Here is how Lviv helped forge the patriotism of the world’s greatest boxer.
Becoming ‘The Cat’ in Crimea
Sascha idolized boxers growing up in Crimea, where his military father was stationed. His room was adorned with posters of champions like Mike Tyson, the Klitschko brothers, and his childhood idol, Muhammad Ali, with whom he shares a birthday.
He was a big kid who enjoyed sports, taking up karate to let out his frenetic energy, and football to “be with the boys.”
“As a child, he was a slob. He wouldn’t sit still - he ran, always crashed into the door. His forehead was constantly broken,” his sister Victoria recalled after Usyk won his Olympic gold medal in 2012.
“He’s a mischievous guy - but very resolute. If he decides on something, nothing will get in his way.”
It wasn’t until he was a teen that he made the move to boxing. Usyk recalled the moment the sport came calling.
During an amateur football game in 2002, a soon-to-be-regretful opponent of the 15-year-old Usyk said something obscene to the former world champion.
“I couldn’t hold back, so I knocked him out,” Usyk remembered.
“Of course, I received a red card and was suspended from the team. Coach said I could return if I apologized to him and the team. I told the team I wouldn’t apologize because I was right in that situation … So, I quit football.”
He took to the sport quickly, winning his first international tournament just three years later. He became the champion of Ukraine in 2006 and won the European championship in 2008. That same year, he made his Olympic debut, where he fell to Italy’s Clemente Russo in the heavyweight quarterfinal at Beijing 2008.
It’s been all uphill from there.
Usyk won bronze at the 2009 world championships, bumped that up to gold at the 2011 worlds, and claimed that cherished Olympic gold medal with a revenge win over Russo at London 2012.
After capping his amateur career with the one title he had left to claim, Usyk returns to the British capital tomorrow looking to reclaim his status as the undisputed world heavyweight champion.
Lviv Forges the Identity of the Olympic Champion
The gold medal win at London 2012 brought international fame to Usyk. It is also where he began to hone his ring identity as a Cossack.
Unlike in 2008, Usyk decided to don his trademark ‘herringbone’ (‘oseledets’) hairstyle popularized by Cossacks - Ukraine’s answer to medieval knights - ahead of the London Olympic Games.
“Sascha, are you sure?” his Crimean hairdresser asked.
“I want it. We are Cossacks and must honor our ancestors,” Usyk answered.
He leaned into the motif after claiming his Olympic title, breaking into an exuberant hopak dance after his gold medal victory was announced - just like his ancestors would have.
At the same time, Usyk was discovering the charm and patriotic spirit of the Western Ukrainian capital while studying coaching at Lviv’s State University for Physical Culture, where he earned a Master's degree.
These were heady days for Ukraine, just a few years removed from the events that would become the Revolution of Dignity. Lviv was an important crucible where Usyk’s modern vision of Ukraine was forged.
Before turning pro, Usyk starred for the Ukrainian Otamans of the World Series of Boxing, winning all six of his fights and becoming the champion of the heavyweight category while leading the team to a runner-up finish.
While Usyk only competed in Kyiv during that 2012-13 run, the World Series of Boxing would come to Lviv in 2016, where Ukraine topped Turkiye 4-1 at the Lviv National Circus (Львівський державний цирк).
By that time, Sascha had already turned pro, compiling a perfect 9-0 record. Yet, he never forgot the city that forged his identity.
When it was time to fight for his first professional belt, the future undisputed champion chose the Western Ukrainian capital, winning the WBO interim intercontinental cruiserweight belt with a dominant 7th-round TKO over South Africa’s Daniel Bruwer in front of over 10,000 fans at Arena Lviv on October 4, 2014.
He hasn’t lost a fight since.
Bringing Ukrainian Culture to the World
Usyk continued to build confidence and learn the lessons he would need to become an undisputed champion at both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions.
His early fights were here in Ukraine - Lviv, Kyiv, Odessa - but by the time he won the WBO title in 2016, he had already become an international sensation.
Already a star in Ukraine, it was time to bring Ukraine to the world.
Usyk was already the WBO champion when the World Boxing Super Series kicked off in 2017. The tournament featured the top eight cruiserweight fighters in the world in a single-knockout tournament designed to unify the titles.
It was Usyk’s path to the undisputed title.
He beat Germany’s Marco Huck in Germany, Latvia’s Mairis Breidis in Latvia (for the WBC belt), and Russia’s Murat Gassiev in Russia (for the WBA and IBF titles). The Ukrainian Cossack had traveled the world and beaten the best boxers on their home turfs to become the undisputed cruiserweight champion.
His jump to the heavyweight division was highly anticipated, and he won the WBO Intercontinental title in 2020, in just his second fight, by beating Britain’s Derek Chisora.
Soon, Usyk’s fights became must-watch events - not only in Ukraine, but worldwide. By the time he faced Britain’s Tyson Fury in the first undisputed heavyweight fight in a quarter century, 20 million people tuned in.
Few Ukrainians have had such a platform to bring Ukrainian culture to a worldwide audience, and Sascha knew just what to do with it.
His ring walks have become legendary. In his first tilt with Fury, Usyk entered the ring dressed as a 17th-century Cossack hetman (chief). He styled himself after Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who once led an uprising that led to the creation of an independent Cossack state in Ukraine.
The look wasn’t lost on the international press.
“Usyk indeed looked like a general storming towards the frontline,” Britain’s The Independent wrote at the time.
“Pertinent given his country’s ongoing war with Russia.”
At the weigh-in for the event, he donned a special bright red vyshyvanka (embroidered shirt) designed by Leopolitan designers Maryana and Marta Nazarchuk. The shirt was adorned with the image of slain Ukrainian warrior Oleksandr Matsiyevsky, who was shot by Russian soldiers for saying ‘Glory to Ukraine’.
Once again, Usyk was making a calculated statement to a global audience.
After beating Fury for a second time late last year, Usyk brandished the original saber of another legendary hetman, Ivan Mazepa, in the ring. Mazepa is famous for having turned on Russia in the 18th century. The symbolism was deliberate.
Usyk continues to enter the ring to some of the most patriotic Ukrainian tracks on the market.
These have included ‘My Own Country’ (‘Sam Sobi Kraina’) by the late Leopolitan legend Skryabin, ‘Brothers’ (‘Brattya’) by Vasyl Zhadan, and, appropriately, ‘Cossacks’ by Tin Sontsia.
When Usyk talks (or walks…) - the world listens.
Bringing the World to Ukraine
Having honed the Cossack motif into a fierce and powerful symbol of patriotism and independence, Usyk continues to bring Ukraine’s message to the world.
At a press conference earlier this week, our vyshyvanka-clad champ broke into a song of ‘Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow’ (‘Oi u Luzi Chervona Kalyna’), a World War I-era battle song popularized by BoomBox’s Andriy Khlyvynyuk. His performance of the song, just days after Russia’s full-scale invasion began, in front of Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral while in army fatigues and brandishing a weapon, has led to the song becoming a wartime anthem.
Again, the choice drips with symbolism and resolve. ‘Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow’ is banned in Usyk’s Crimea, where imprisonment awaits those who replicate Usyk’s press conference performance.
Could you imagine Russian occupation authorities trying to arrest Sascha for singing?
Usyk continues to live, train, and study in Ukraine - and dreams of fighting in his homeland once more.
The boy from Crimea, who became a man in Lviv and a legend in London, now lives in the capital of Kyiv, dodging missiles and drones like the rest of us. His house was even attacked in March 2022.
Having lived in southern, western, and central Ukraine, Usyk has spent more time recently in the frontline eastern city of Kharkiv, where in March he was conferred a Doctor of Philosophy in Law.
Having accomplished nearly all there is to in the sport, Usyk has one personal dream left - to fight again at home in front of his compatriots.
“I’m not hoping - I know it will be that way,” Usyk told ESPN this week.
“Everything I started, I’ll finish to the end.”
And Lviv will be there to support you.
Oleksandr Usyk faces Daniel Dubois for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world tomorrow evening in London, Great Britain. Ring walks are expected to begin around 11:45 EET.
