Oleksandr Usyk says soldiers fighting on the Ukrainian front line against Russia have been messaging him, saying they are praying for him to win his rematch with Anthony Joshua on Saturday.

The WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF champion has an entire nation behind him for the fight in Jeddah and he even expects Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be tuning in.

“I am motivated by the people of Ukraine who are struggling hard to defend our independence, to defend our freedom and defend our culture that other people want to demolish and destroy, they don’t want us to exist anymore,” Usyk said.

“I am in touch with many guys from the frontline, military guys and soldiers. I receive voice and video messages from them with words of support and news that they are praying for me and for my victory. They are holding their hands tight and praying for my victory and that motivates me.”

Usyk had actually been in the UK in February when Russia invaded his homeland. He returned home and signed up to the country’s military reserve. He got special permission to leave the country with his family to set up a training camp in Europe.

“I have been getting updates from home every day and I did manage to get some positive news. Some of my friends, military guys, came back from their assignments safe and sound. Their assignments were really complicated and dangerous but they managed to get home safe and sound and accomplish it," Usyk said.

“We are hearing fewer explosions and see enemy activity reducing, which might be considered positive news for us.”

The people of Ukraine will get to see the fight for free after Usyk arranged for the rights to be given free to Ukrainian television, as well as it being shown online. Zelenskyy has told Usyk that he will be watching.

“The president does not just support me as an athlete, but the whole country,” Usyk said. “Of course he will be watching my fight and cheering me.”

Zelenskyy inspired many across the globe when he refused an offer from the United States to flee to safety when Russia invaded, and Usyk says he was inspired too

“People elect the president, who is the professional manager, who helps the population to improve and the economy of the country to improve,” Usyk said. “If he is elected, he takes those responsibilities. When some difficult situation occurs, many people, I’m not saying everyone, try to escape from it, to run away.

“But you cannot escape such a situation – if you go this way, it will follow you. It’s true that when he became the president, he hated to face this challenge. But when the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine, he didn’t run away. Other forces were saying, ‘We can help you escape, we can extract you from Ukraine,’ but he stayed for his country. What do you think people like me, other Ukrainians, thought when we saw him acting like this? Everyone realized that he had huge balls, that we had to go and fight for our leader.

“It’s the real deeds of people that motivate me. If the president of Ukraine had left in the first days of the war, it would have been a very bad thing that would leave the Ukrainian people without hope. But he didn’t.

“That is what has motivated us to stand strong and fight. I am pretty sure that if we had someone else as president that we would have not moved in the positive direction that we have.”

At Monday evening’s media reception in Jeddah, Usyk carried a soft Eeyore donkey, his daughter Elizabeth’s favorite toy. He has had it with him every day since he had to split up from his family after leaving Ukraine.

“She gave it to me to be my talisman,” Usyk said. “We bought it when we were all together in Disneyland, Paris.

“We left Ukraine together but our roads separated in Europe, my daughter gave this toy to me and said ‘this needs to be right next to you’. It sleeps with me, is always close to and today she told me to take it to my media event.

I am not sure about it being in my corner, but she will definitely be in my dressing-room.”

He also says he will stick by his promise to return to Ukraine after the fight, once he has seen his family.

“I just want to see my kids, who I have not seen properly for almost half a year, I want to see my mum, they are all now in Europe,” he said.

“I want to see them and hug them and have dinner with them. And then I will go to Kiev.”

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.