OLEKSANDR USYK has revealed he asked his coach whether he should fight harder in his rematch against Anthony Joshua.
The Ukrainian opened up on his experience during the fight, and claimed his inspiration to win was drawn from the Ukrainian frontline.
Usyk himself was present on the frontline to fight against Russia's invasion of the country, and was pictured holding a machine gun, before he was told to leave to prepare for the rematch.
Following the fight, Usyk told Parimatch: "In the ninth round, I felt a lot of pressure.
"But I understood it was not as hard for me as for some guys on the frontline.
"After round nine, I said to my coach, 'should I start?' (to fight harder) and he said 'go ahead.'"
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Usyk up for trilogy with ‘handsome’ AJ and tells him to ditch ‘freeloaders’
Usyk won the rematch with Joshua via a controversial split decision.
However, despite Usyk's victory, the fight was overshadowed by an emotional outburst from Joshua.
The British heavyweight threw two of the belts out of the ring and went on a tantrum where he addressed the crowd in an emotional speech.
He apologised for his actions the day after the fight.
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Usyk has been tipped to land a bumper deal to fight Tyson Fury and unify the heavyweight division.
He has also said he would be open to ANOTHER fight with Joshua to complete a trilogy.
But Usyk warned Joshua would need to ditch the "freeloaders" in his camp if he were to emerge victorious and "grow" as a person.
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