Ukrainian boxers at the Paris Olympics have an added incentive to win medals after former undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk pledged to pay them prize money out of his own pocket if they can make it onto the podium.
Ukraine has three boxers competing in Paris -- Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Oleksandr Khyzhniak, Aider Abduraimov and Dmytro Lovchynskyi -- and Usyk has been doing his best to provide them support at the Games.
"He helps our boxers a lot, in different ways. He supports them financially. He helps them with money," Ukraine coach Dmitry Sosnovsky told Reuters after middleweight Khyzhniak's win over Hungarian Pylyp Akilov on Tuesday.
"He told them that if they win medals at the Olympic Games, he will give the prize money by himself. From his pocket.
"He'll give them money for bronze, for silver and for gold. He said for first place it will $80,000, for the second place, the silver medal, $70,000. And the bronze is $50,000."
A spokesperson for Ukraine's Olympic committee confirmed that Usyk had committed to paying prize money to medallists.
WBC, WBO and WBA champion Usyk is himself an Olympic champion, winning gold in the heavyweight category at the 2012 London Games.
Usyk, 37, was at the North Paris Arena to support super heavyweight Lovchynskyi in his knockout defeat to Australian Teremoana Junior on Monday.
"He was here on Monday and he went to the dressing room, before the fight, he went to say that everything will be okay," Sosnovsky said.
"With each boxer he has tried to give them advice for their fights. He tried to inspire them."
Medallists in the boxing competition are also set to receive prize money from the International Boxing Association (IBA), which said it would award $100,000 to gold medallists, $50,000 for silver medals and $25,000 for bronze.
