They say behind every successful man is a woman so who is Yekaterina Usyk, the wife of Oleksandr, who has supported him through his quest to become undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight champion?
Usyk is preparing to defend three of his belts against Tyson Fury in a rematch of their clash from May when the Ukrainian became the first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis, before he was stripped of the IBF belt for failing to meet his mandatory challenger.
So when he and the Gypsy King meet in the ring in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, December 21, they will contest the WBC, WBO and WBA titles as well as the lineal title, and their anticipation is already palpable after a tense build up.
And Usyk has already praised the role of his family in his personal fight camp for helping keep him focused and calm, contrasting Fury who revealed he hasn’t spoken to his wife in around three months.
“It’s helped me – because it’s my family,” Usyk told reporters. “My little daughter, Maria, started to walk, say ‘mama’, ‘baba’ [grandmother].
“This is real motivation for me.”
Fans in the United States can expect to watch the pair enter the ring around 18:00 ET/15:00 PT, although this is subject to change depending on how other fights across the night play out in Riyadh.
Who is Yekaterina Usyk?
Yekaterina is Usyk’s faithful wife of 15 years and is the mother of his four children since they tied the knot in 2009, and the pair typically reside in Kyiv amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
She is active online and runs the Usyk Foundation, which aims to support Ukrainians defend their homeland following Vladimir Putin’s incursion, and she boasts over 100,000 Instagram followers as a result.
However, Yekaterina makes sure she keeps a very private life and not too much is actually known about her. But it is known she holds a Russian citizenship, despite the ongoing conflict which is set to enter its third year in 2025.
The names of three of her children have been revealed to the world. She has two sons named Mykhailo and Kyrylo, and a daughter named Maria.
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