Oleksandr and Kateryna Usyk / Collage of Channel 24
Almost all of Oleksandr Usyk's fans have heard about his family. The world heavyweight champion often repeats that his main inspiration is his family. And first and foremost, his wife Kateryna, who has been by his side for almost twenty years.
Last year, the couple celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary. And today, May 23, Alexander will enter the ring against Rick Verhoeven. The audience expects Kateryna to be in the audience, who constantly supports her lover in fights. Videos where the athlete's wife does not hold back her emotions are quickly gaining popularity.
And this raises the question: how did it all begin? What was the love story of Kateryna and Oleksandr Usyk? Read more about this in the material of Channel 24.
Usyk remembers meeting his future wife with a smile. He was 15 at the time, and Kateryna was almost 14. Despite the fact that it all started as a friendship, Oleksandr knew from the first meeting that he wanted Katya to become his wife someday.
One day he decided to take a risk: before a fight at the Crimean championship in 2003, he suggested that Kateryna go for a walk if she won. She responded without much enthusiasm: they said, win first.
Although Alexander was never awarded the victory in that fight, he received a bonus from his senior comrade – a whopping 200 hryvnias, which was a pretty solid sum at the time. With this money, the guy bought a rose and did ask Kateryna out on a date, as he told in an interview on the YouTube channel Tatyana Pop Info.
He was shorter than me then. He gave me that rose… I felt sorry for him. I think: well, okay, come on,
– the boxer's wife recalled.
Oleksandr and Kateryna Usyk in their youth / Photos from their social networks
The couple's first kiss happened near the river, and, as Usyk jokingly said in an interview on Slava Demin's YouTube channel, it was Kateryna who taught him how to kiss.
But not everything was cloudless. After three years of relationship, Kateryna decided to end it. According to her, Usyk was not behaving in the best way at that time. Oleksandr, as he himself admitted, then “caught a star”: at 19 he became a bronze medalist of the European Championship, received the title of master of sports of international class, a prize, a salary increase… And this is what shook their relationship.
Sanya was my first love, which brought suffering. He behaved simply terribly. It seemed as if he was checking all my organs to see if they were there or not. I felt bad in my soul from this relationship,
– Kateryna confessed.
They haven't spoken for over a year. The girl even had relationships with other guys.
However, life put everything in its place. After some time, the couple started communicating again, and in 2009 they got married. Moreover, the wedding was arranged spontaneously.
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 we had to hurry up. We had a quick wedding, spontaneous, but it turned out really cool – with friends and relatives,
– said Usyk.
Kateryna and Oleksandr Usyk in their youth / Photos from their social networks
Today, the couple is raising four children: daughter Elizabeth, sons Cyril and Mikhail, and daughter Maria.
We remind you that the family does not live together. Oleksandr is constantly training, so he does not spend time with his relatives that often. Kateryna takes care of her two daughters, but the sons are currently in Spain, where their grandparents are watching over them. The boys are engaged in judo and have already received their first awards for their achievements.
Usyk's wife said that she would never have believed before that her boys would live separately from her. In addition, Kateryna would not want her parents to return to Ukraine and hear the alarm and explosions again. Therefore, the family currently lives in two countries. They communicate by phone, and Kateryna herself travels to Spain every month and a half, where she visits her parents and sons.