Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk signs a contract with Ukrainian team Polissya.
Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk signed a deal with Ukrainian team Polissya and is set to trade his boxing gloves for football boots, meaning he can no longer participate at Wembley in a unification match versus Tyson Fury.
Usyk, the heavyweight champion, inked a one-year "agreement on football cooperation" with the team on Wednesday and would don the number 17 jersey.
As a teenager, Usyk played football with Tavriya Simferopol of Ukraine before transitioning to boxing.
Previously, in a friendly game last year, the 36-year-old substituted for Polissya.
Oleksandr Usyk joins Polissya
Polissya president Gennadiy Butkevych said in a statement on Thursday, “I respect and am proud of this man.
"His attitude to training is a great example for the Polissia team,”
After winning the top spot in the second-tier Ukrainian First League last season, Polissya was promoted and will compete in the Ukrainian Premier League in 2023–24.
On August 26, Usyk will return to the boxing arena at the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland, to defend his IBF, IBO, WBO, and WBA heavyweight titles against Daniel Dubois of Great Britain.
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