Vasiliy Lomachenko is the latest Ukrainian celebrity to pick up arms in defense of his country. Lomachenko returned from Greece to join a territorial defense battalion as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, the former unified lightweight champion posted on his Facebook page.
It was reported on Feb. 24 that Lomachenko was in Greece where he was seeking refuge at a local monastery. According to a report by ESPN, Lomachenko faced delays in returning to Ukraine due to issues with his flight but eventually was able to fly into Bucharest and travel through Romania on Saturday to reach his family and home outside of Odessa.
A photo was posted on Lomachenko's official Facebook page on Sunday captioned, "The Belgorod-Dnestrovsky Territorial Defense Battalion has been formed and armed. In the territorial defense, boxer Vasily Lomachenko informed the mayor Vitaly Grazhdan."
Білгород-Дністровський батальйон територіальної оборони сформований та озброєний. У теробороні боксер Василь Ломаченко,...
Posted by Vasiliy Lomachenko / Василий Ломаченко on Sunday, February 27, 2022
Lomachenko is the latest acclaimed boxer to take up arms in the conflict. Former heavyweight world champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko enlisted in the Ukraine army last week. Vitali Klitschko currently serves as the mayor of the capital city of Kyiv. Current unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk returned home to Ukraine to fight as soon as the invasion began.
Lomachenko has held world championships in three different weight classes, most recently at lightweight. He suffered an upset loss to Teofimo Lopez in an October 2020 bout to unify three world championships. Since that loss, Lomachenko has scored two impressive victories, placing himself back into the title picture.
Lomachenko is the leading candidate to face George Kambosos Jr. on June 5 in an attempt to regain the unified championship following Kambosos' upset win over Lopez, though the situation in Ukraine could impact those plans.
