Yaroslav Amasov and Oleksandr Usyk in Shypyntsi: Will The Two MMA and Boxing World Champions and Family Live Through Russian vs. Ukraine War?
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
In Northeastern Ukraine, World Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has returned to his wife, and family in the village of Shypyntsi is located within the district of Chernivtsi Chernivtsi Raion, of the province of Chernivtsi Oblast, about 530 kilometers (330 miles) driving distance southwest of Kiev (now under siege during the Russian-Ukrianian War), and about 30 kilometers (19 miles) northwest of the provincial capital of Chernivtsi. Shypyntsi is about 48 kilometers (30 miles) from the Ukrainian border with Romania, about 64 kilometers (40 miles) from the Ukrainian border with Moldova, and about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the city of Sucaeva, Romania, located on the left bank of the Prut River, amid rolling hills covered with farms and forests, in the region generally known as the Dniester Hills.
198 civilians, including three children, have been killed Oleksandr Usyk. Here is Usyk’s message in Instagram. “Good morning to everybody. My name is Aleksandr Usyk. I would like to speak to the people of Russia and inquire as to) if we consider ourselves as brothers, orthodox ones. Do not let your children to set out to our country, do not fight with us. Also, I am addressing this to (speaking to) President Vladimir Putin. You can stop this war. Please just sit down and negotiate it with us without claims. Our kids, wives, and grandparents, are hiding in the basements (and safe designated areas). We are here, in our own country. We cannot do it (survive in any) other way. We are defending (our homeland). Stop it! Stop this war!”
As the number of military and civilian casualties continue, with former world heavyweight champions Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko fighting for their lives on the front lines in the Kiev battle zone area, Yarolsav ‘Dynamo” Amasov, 28-0 with six knockouts, the Bellator World Welterweight champion, hails from Irpin, Ukraine, where he lives with his family. Irpin is an enclave of Kiev, Ukraine, now under siege, where bombs and missiles and ground fighting is now going on at high cost of human lives.
Irpin was formed in 1899 as a passing loop during the construction of the Kiev to Kovel railway line. Railway workers founded the town near the railway road along with other localities such as Bucha and Vorzel. The city’s name (along with the city of Vorzel) was chosen due to its location on the Irpin River. From July 26, 1941, right after the World War II Battle of Kiev, Irpin was occupied by the German Wehrmacht until early February 1944. Most of its population was killed at either Babi Yar or other Ukrainian massacres. In 1956, Irpin’s status was changed to “City of Raion (district) subordination,” subordinate to the Kyiv-Sviatoshyn Raion District. On December 30, 1962, the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR issued a decree changing the status of Irpin to that of a “city of oblast subordination” thus being directly subordinate to the oblast authorities rather than the city administration housed within the city. Also mentioned within the decree were the inclusion of the urban-type settlements of Bucha (a city since 2007), Vorzel, Hostomel, and Kotsiubynske within the city limits.
Amasov fought for the Bellator Welterweight World Championship against then world champion Douglas Lim at Bellator 260 on June 11, 2021. He won the fight by unanimous decision by outwrestling Lima throughout all five rounds to become the new Bellator Welterweight World Champion. Amasov is scheduled to make his first title defense against Michael Page on May 13, 2022 at Bellator London. That bout and world title defense is in jeopardy, as Amasov and his family are now caught with the Klitschko Brothers in the eye of the storm of war. Yet another world champion could die as a civilian or a soldier, living in his country. It is a war the rest still does not understand, as the west was caught from surprise. In the coming days, with each passing hour, not just Oleksandr Usyk, Vitali Klitschko, and Wladimir Klitschko, but also Yaroslav Amasov could also die on the front lines of war, or as a civilian casualty of the haphazard attack. Where are the great champions of past and present? Are they alive? Are their families alive? Will the rest of the world negotiate a ceasefire and attempt to resolve the land conflict dispute between the Russian Federation and Ukraine in Luhansk and Donetsk, or will thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of people die in this 2022 conflict?
Will the Coronavirus Pandemic, which has already infected 21 million people and killed 456 thousand people in the Russian Federation and Ukraine combined, spiral out of control in these areas world than the Spanish Flu did in Europe during World War I? The stage has been set for hunger, starvation and disease to paralyze not just the Ukraine, but all of Europe as Ukrainian pipelines have already been damaged. It is a war that has gotten out of control at a time when the world is out of control. One can only hope the madness will stop, in particular when human lives are affected. The noteworthy sports figures on the front line only highlight how unfathomable the situation is, and wonder how many lives will be lost on both sides, and who will live to see tomorrow. War brings us sadness, and it is a boxing ring and an MMA ring with ropes for the combatants on the front lines now.
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