More than a year after the invasion from Russia, boxing has finally made a return to Ukraine with a very special amateur event hosted in an underground metro station.
Metro Station in Kharkiv hosts boxing event
Members of the national boxing team came together at the Zakhysnykiv Ukrainy station in the city of Kharkiv, one of the cities that has suffered heavy damages from the Russian invasion.
At the metro station on the platform next to one of the trains, the boxers put on their gloves again and locked horns in the squared circle. Hundreds of fans turned out and witnessed the most important sporting event in the country since the invasion.
And since the war is far from over, the event had to be held underground for obvious security reasons. The tournament was called “Heroes of the Defense of Kharkov”, and boxers from all over the country participated. In addition to amateur boxers, many representing the Olympic team, as well as soldiers also competed.
Last weekend, Ukraine hosted its first sporting competition—a boxing tournament—in the Kharkiv underground.
For safety, it was held on the platform of a metro station, giving boxing fans the ability to attend the tournament in safety. pic.twitter.com/QLBikq3QsH
— UNITED24.media (@United24media) May 15, 2023
Since the initiation of the war in Ukraine, people linked to boxing have shown their presence in the resistance against Russia- in both raising their voices as well as enlisting themselves in the frontlines of the country’s defense.
Ukrainian boxing icons like Oleksandr Usyk and Vasyl Lomachenko joined the troops to fight the Russian military, although they were later given permission to leave the country and to continue with their careers.
The sport has also suffered gravely because of the war, as 22-year-old prospect Maksym Galinichev lost his life defending his country last month.
