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Vasiliy Lomachenko: Boxer, soldier, believer, traitor? 

  • Sean Nam

    • NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 29: Vasiliy Lomachenko gets corner work during his lightweight fight with Jamaine Ortiz, at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on October 29, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)

    On a Saturday night in New York City in December 2021, months before Vladimir Putin sent tanks and missiles and thousands of soldiers to try to cut the heart out of Ukraine, a boxing instructor named Liubomyr saw something that made him worry for his home country.

    The 30-year-old, Brooklyn-based Ukrainian expat was seated in the bowels of Madison Square Garden, alongside scores of like-minded spectators, to witness the latest performance from one of the most compelling fighters in professional boxing: lightweight Vasiliy Lomachenko, a sporting icon in Ukraine.

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