Heavyweight champion Usyk signs playing contract with Ukrainian football club

Usyk will next enter the boxing ring at the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland, on Aug. 26, where he will defend his IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA heavyweight titles against Britain’s Daniel Dubois.

Ukraine’s heavyweight boxing champion and title defender Oleksandr Usyk meets the press in London, Britain, Thursday, July 13, 2023 ahead of his fight against Britain’s Daniel Dubois on Aug. 26 at Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw. | Photo Credit: AP

While a unification bout at Wembley against Tyson Fury is no longer on the cards, Oleksandr Usyk could still compete under the lights after swapping his boxing gloves for football boots and signing a contract with Ukrainian club Polissya.

Heavyweight champion Usyk, who trained as a footballer with Ukraine’s Tavriya Simferopol as a teenager before switching to boxing, on Wednesday, signed a one-year “agreement on football cooperation” with the club and will wear the number 17 shirt.

The 36-year-old previously made a substitute appearance for Polissya in a friendly match last year.

Polissya will play in the Ukrainian Premier League in the 2023-24 season after earning promotion with a first-place finish in last season’s second-tier Ukrainian First League.

“I respect and am proud of this man. His attitude to training is a great example for the Polissia team,” Polissya president Gennadiy Butkevych said in a statement on Thursday.

Usyk will next enter the boxing ring at the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland, on Aug. 26, where he will defend his IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA heavyweight titles against Britain’s Daniel Dubois.

Usyk is undefeated in 20 professional fights with 13 knockouts, while Dubois has won 19 of his 20 bouts, losing one.