The "Fighting Pride of Ukraine"

[CowboyTutt]

This guy managed to be only the 3rd person in the history of boxing to win the highest title in both the Cruiser class and Heavy Weight class of boxing. He ranks with Evander Holyfield now by accomplishment. This is a very shortened video of the fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lh1XaLaBHQ

His footwork and hands on agility is amazing. He was up against a bigger, heavier, taller, younger opponent, with more reach in his arms. This takes an exceptional skill set for a smaller man to box with a larger man of more reach.

The 12th round said it all. He's obviously an Orthodox Christian, maybe an Eastern Catholic one maybe. Either way, he is my Ukrainian Brother!

So proud!

-Tutt

[mickbr]

I like seeing the smaller guys win again and some return of styles and techniques. These days you cheer when you see a heavyweight who actually remembers how to duck . Good on the ukrainian.

[Tycer]

That was good. Thanks

[marlinman93]

Usyk is a talented boxer, and his constant right jab and straight left were what kept Joshua confused all throughout the fight. He also knew how to use lateral movement every time he made contact with Joshua, so he couldn't counter Osyk's attacks. I really thought the scores should have been much different as I felt Usyk won more rounds than they credited him with.
As another of Ukranian ancestry, I was a bit more excited to see Usyk's win for the championship. My grandfather came here from what is now the Ukrain in 1886 with his two brothers.

[stretch]

I was impressed with his movement, too.

Really impressed with the fact that he was able to keep up that movement
throughout 12 rounds of a championship fight. He's a talented boxer, fought
intelligently, and is in terrific condition.

-stretch

[CowboyTutt]

Wow, I really appreciate all the love here for Oleksandr Oleksandrovych. He earned this title fair and square. He was at a disadvantage by age, size and reach. He won through technique. If I could remind my brothers here, please don't refer to it as "the Ukraine". The name Ukraine is generally interpreted to mean "the border lands". That is where that word comes from. John McCain was quite honestly a totally uneducated idiot in his dealings with this country. Ukraine has its own culture away from Russia. In fact, I have had Russian nuns tell me that Ukraine is the Mother of Russia! All the while Putin tries to discredit Ukraine, and call it an "artificial construct" and country. Not surprisingly, as all things Putin, this is completely untrue. He seeks to destroy my country and bring it into his orbit of control. So if he can label it an artificial country, this helps him in this regard.

We don't say, "the Virginia" or "the California" or "the Colorado" or "the Kansas" (sorry, I'm Kansas born on Dad's military side and don't regret it a bit).

Ukrainian's are not by default Russians. This is a confusing subject, but it you want to read about it, here is a basic over-view:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Ukraine

As MarlinMan93 would tell you I think, we are Ukrainians. We are not "the Ukrainians" and we live in a country with our own culture and beliefs.

I would move there if I could, and hope to move there for retirement.

Regards,

Sincerely, and with thanks for the understanding of "the board" and my many friends here,

-Tutt

[marlinman93]

If you look back through history to when Catherine the great, from the German royalty was married to her 2nd cousin Peter III, it will explain who Ukrainians are for the some part. The term "border lands" is very fitting, as when this marriage was arranged part of the agreement was to give German farmers all the border lands along the Southwest corner of Russia as part of the marriage agreement.
Those farmers were also given a 100 year exemption from military service; something all Russians were required to do. This started off the hatred by Russians for Ukrainians, and it never got better. The Ukrainians proved to be the great famers Russia hoped they would, and were able to prosper on lands Russians were never able to cultivate as well. They also protected the lands given to them from invaders, which was another reason Russia gave up their border lands to the German immigrants.
My dad always jokingly told us as kids that if you gave a farmer land, and told him to grow crops on it, he'd fight to the death if anyone tried to trample his crops, or take his land! I think that was the scenario Ukraine was based on.
My grandfather came to the US with his two brothers in 1886 after the 100 year exemption from military service ended. At that time many Ukrainians left their home country and came to the US to avoid the draft. But beyond the draft, that time period involved a lot of Russian persecution towards Ukrainians also, and people were attacked, lands stolen, and it was tough to even exist during that time.
My grandparents, and even my dad and his siblings, never spoke anything but German. Another reason Russians hated them. My dad was born here, but until WWI none of his family spoke English. They were told to learn English, or not be caught outside after curfew. My grandfather died before WWI, and my grandmother never learned English. The German they spoke was considered "low German" by those living in Germany. I remember my dad talking to some German tourists who he heard talking as they got off a tour bus. My dad came back angry, and I asked what was wrong? He said the man told him he couldn't understand his "low German", even though my dad understood the man's German just fine. Ukrainian Germans seemed to have developed a different dialect over centuries of being part of the Ukraine.

[jeepnik]

Warning, thread drift. Anyone notice that Wheaties has put a draft dodging coward on the current box. Sort of like when Disney hooked up with Jackson. Corporations have no shame.

[CowboyTutt]

MM93, thanks for the history lesson. And yes, the definitive article was used even by Ukraine prior to its independence and I have folk songs that say " v Ukrayini" (v meaning into the interior where the Russian word na means onto a boundary or outside a boundary). After Ukraine gained its independence, things changed and its not a popular way to talk about Ukraine to Ukrainians.

From Wikepedia,

Ukraine is one of a few English country names traditionally used with the definite article.[1] Use of the article was standard before Ukrainian independence, but has decreased since the 1990s.[2][3][28] For example, the Associated Press dropped the article "the" on 3 December 1991.[3] Use of the definite article was seen as suggesting a non-sovereign territory, much like "the Lebanon" referred to the region before its independence, or as one might refer to "the Midwest".[29][30][31]

In 1993 the Ukrainian government explicitly requested that the article be dropped,[32] and use of "Ukraine" without the definite article has since become commonplace in journalism and diplomacy (other examples are the style guides of The Guardian[33] and The Times[34]).

Please don't refer to us as "The" Ukrainians. This plays into the Russian narrative that seeks to deny us sovereignty to our own country as Putin always says that Ukraine is an artificial and "false" country" and by doing so deny us our freedoms as a country while invading us from the south and the east.

-Tutt