ON THE FRONT LINE

Usyk: I saw the exploding tanks and my enemies running

- Chris McKenna

MOST boxers dream of heading to the Big Apple for a fight at Madison Square Garden.

But after beating Anthony Joshua for the second time last August, Oleksandr Usyk's destination was a very different New York.

The Ukrainian master travelled instead to a "dead city" where the toys of children lay amid the rubble of buildings destroyed by Russian missiles.

Usyk spent weeks on the front line in NiuYork, an urban settlement 50 miles to the north of the city of Donetsk.

On Saturday, Usyk faces Britain's Daniel Dubois in his latest defence of the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles.

It will be a chance for those Ukrainians displaced in the Polish city of Wroclaw to watch their hero at the Tarczynski Arena, which holds 43,000 fans.

Usyk's skills have seen him become a beacon of hope for the people of Ukraine but his battles are not restricted to the ring.