Saved Usyk: what does the wife of the Ukrainian champion do and what does she look like, whom the boxer was not impressed at first, but was able to win

After Oleksandr Usyk's (23-0, 14 KOs) rematch victory over Tyson Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs), the Ukrainian unified heavyweight champion walked up to the ropes where his wife Kateryna was standing and showed that she was his strength. Unlike the Gypsy King, who did not communicate with his spouse for three months during his training, Oleksandr is inspired by his family. The athlete's beloved supports him in the most difficult moments of his life.

Usyk confirmed that he and Kateryna have been together for about 20 years, and during this time they have gone through the trials of fame, parting with their home in Crimea, and long-distance relationships, as the champion was away for long periods of time at training camps and various competitions. But it was she who gave him the most important gift that saved the future boxing legend.

The Ukrainian champion met his future wife Kateryna at school. They met when the future champion was 15 and the girl was almost 14. At the time, she had been dancing for a long time, but after marriage Kateryna devoted herself to her family, supporting her husband and raising her children.

The relationship that later transformed into great love began as a friendship. In general, because of boxing, Usyk didn't have much time to have fun.

"When young guys my age were out and about enjoying the warm summer, I was dying in the gym. I didn't hang out with girls, I didn't get high. I was friends with a girl named Kateryna. I could walk her home and go home alone. But I liked her, and I started to show sympathy, asking her out. I dreamed that she would be my wife and we would have many children. And so it happened," Oleksandr admitted.

As Kateryna herself once admitted, she was not impressed by Usyk at first: "I didn't consider him at all... Except as a friend. And he said: "If I win the fight today, will you go out with me tonight?" I said: "Win, and then we'll see."

According to Oleksandr, it happened when he was competing in the 2003 Crimean championship. He fought a guy who was older than him and "really kicked his ass," but the future champion was not awarded the victory. But an older friend gave Usyk a prize of 200 hryvnias for a very good fight, which was a lot of money at the time. With this money, Usyk bought Kateryna a rose and asked her to date him, and she agreed.

"I said that I would live with her all my life, and we would have many children, and then many grandchildren. This girl, and today my wife Kateryna Mykhailivna, helped me become who I am now," Usyk told Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions YouTube channel.

But before the wedding, the young people had been dating for almost 6 years, and there was a difficult time in the couple's relationship when the boxer almost lost his love. Usyk fell into the "clutches of fame" at the age of 19 - the boxer had just become a bronze medalist at the European Adult Championships, an international master of sports, and was given a raise and a bonus.

"Of course, I thought I was very cool! I think we even had a fight with my current wife once and broke up. Perhaps it was because of my vanity, but I changed my attitude to life," Oleksandr admitted.

Usyk was brought back to earth by his failures - he lost the next Ukrainian championship and did not go to the European championship: "I moved to a different weight class and, by the way, gave up boxing. I thought that was it, that was the final stop. I thought I was going to go to the theater school. But it so happened that I won the next Ukrainian championship and got into physical education."

In the fall of 2008, the Ukrainian fighter won the European Championships in Liverpool in the weight class of up to 81 kg, and for this victory the president of the club that represented Usyk paid him a fee of $10,000. Oleksandr really wanted a car, but he used the money to buy his parents a house and save for his wedding, which he celebrated in Crimea in September 2009, after returning from the 2009 World Championships with a bronze medal.

"We had planned the wedding before. But when I arrived after the World Cup, everything happened very quickly - literally in a week. My wife was already pregnant, so I had to speed up. We did everything quickly, spontaneously, but it turned out very cool - with friends and family," Usyk later recalled.

"Sasha didn't have time to propose to me - Lisa came along faster. We had a very modest wedding, because at that time we didn't even have the opportunity to pay for a rented apartment," said Kateryna, who, throwing a glass for good luck, hit a car from the wedding procession and, as it turned out, it was good luck.

His young wife gave Usyk a daughter, Yelyzaveta, when he was 22 years old. At first, she was very worried about what kind of father Sasha would make, but it turned out that she was right. If the athlete was at home and not at a training camp or competition, he had no problem waking up even at night to help with the child.

Daughter Yelyzaveta became the woman who changed the athlete's life, and one could even say that she divided his life into "before" and "after".

"My daughter was my salvation. Then everything changed dramatically inside. It was like some cavity in my head was filled with gray liquid, and you realized that that's it, you have a child, you have to work, you have to raise her," Usyk told Efrosynina frankly.

After Liza, the boxer's family had two sons, Kirill and Mikhail: "I am in favor of every family having at least 3-4 children. I want a demographic increase in the country. I want more Ukrainian women and men. Our first child was out of love, the second was planned, and the third happened as it did, we didn't plan it. She said: "I'm pregnant".

The Usyk family now has four children - two boys and two girls. Kateryna became a mother for the fourth time in January 2024, when Oleksandr was preparing for his first fight with Tyson, which was originally scheduled for February 17. That's when his daughter Maria was born.

In Crimea, before the Russian occupation, the Ukrainian authorities allocated Oleksandr an apartment in a new building in Simferopol. And after the seizure of the peninsula in 2014, it was difficult for Kateryna to leave her home and family. However, Usyk connected his life and career only with Ukraine, so he lived and trained in Kyiv almost all the time.

Soon after, he moved his family to the capital as well - in Vorzel, on a plot of 8 acres, Oleksandr built a cozy two-story house with a terrace and balcony. During the Russian invasion of 2022, Usyk's mansion was occupied, and the Russian military behaved like pigs on the territory.

After the 2022 Russian invasion, Kateryna launched her own information war against the Russians.

It was because of his wife that Oleksandr did not move to the United States at the time: "I almost had a contract with an American company. One of the reasons for the refusal was Kateryna's unwillingness to go to the United States. She said: "I don't mind. But maybe you should go for a month.' I told her that it wouldn't work for a month. If I go, it will be for at least 6-7 months. I really realized that if I went away for six months, I might lose my family - I would come back as a complete stranger to them, and they would become like that to me."

And Usyk's warmest dinners for two are not in fancy restaurants: "The coolest romance we have is not restaurants. Because you have to take at least five photos there, and that's it. The coolest romance is when we order crayfish and beer, turn on a TV show with Kateryna and sit in the kitchen chopping crayfish. That's how it goes."

And for more than 20 years together, the boxer's love for his soulmate has not faded, but only grown stronger.

"My incredible Kateryna, my flower, the light of my eyes. During this time, we have achieved a lot with you, we had many difficulties that we were able to overcome together, you gave me incredible children. You have changed my life, you have given me wings, you continue to make me happy and strong, your care is felt even at a distance, I am often not around, but you always support me in all my goals," Oleksandr congratulated his beloved on his anniversary.

"Yes, you sometimes don't like some of my actions and you always tell me the truth. I like to just look at you, I love your breakfasts incredibly, when I was little, I drew an image of my future wife, and the Lord sent me you. Every day in prayer I thank God for you, my queen," Usyk added.

And when, after the rematch with Fury, the Ukrainian champion was asked which of the world's people he would invite to dinner if he had the opportunity, Oleksandr did not hesitate to answer that it would be his wife. Even when it was clarified that he could name any celebrities from the past or present, Usyk said confidently: "Only my wife. That's enough."

Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!