Olexsandr Usyk revealed that his daughter had sent him a message from a bomb shelter in Ukraine just before his fight against Rico Verhoeven in Egypt on Saturday (23 May).
The unbeaten Ukrainian boxer, 39, defended his WBC world heavyweight title by stopping the kickboxing world champion, 37, at the end of the 11th round.
In a post-fight interview, Usyk described how his daughter had sent him a text message from a bomb shelter, wishing him luck.
“‘Papa, I love you, you win. I’m afraid,'” Usyk said the message read.
Overnight, Russia launched a huge attack on Kyiv which killed at least four people, Ukrainian authorities said.
