Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter has explained the reasoning behind the Ukrainian heavyweight champion’s brief arrest in a Polish airport.
Footage on social media emerged late on Tuesday evening showing Usyk being detained by uniformed officers before being led away with his hands cuffed behind his back.
The incident was resolved shortly after, with the Ukrainian not disclosing the reason behind his argument but merely labelling the situation as a ‘misunderstanding’.
However, Usyk’s promoter, Alex Krassyuk, has now confirmed that the former undisputed heavyweight champion was detained after he forced himself off a Ryanair flight when a member of his team was denied boarding.
‘While waiting for boarding, Oleksandr’s friend fell asleep on the seats in the waiting area. After the announcement of the start of boarding, Usyk woke up his friend and said that he would wait for him at the exit,’ he began.
‘After passing the passport and boarding pass check, Usyk was left to wait for his friend. It all started with this.’
Usyk is said to have gone off the flight to retrieve his friend – who was in a different boarding group to the boxer – but swiftly discovered airline staff had prevented him from boarding as they believed he was drunk.
‘Employees of the airline somehow strangely established the condition of the other Oleksandr [Usyk’s friend] as “deep alcoholic intoxication” and did not allow him to board the flight,’ Krassyuk explained.
‘Usyk began to find out the reason for the denial with Ryanair employees, but they refused to give an explanation, calling the police.’
The boxer is said to have refused to fly without his friend and asked for Ukrainian diplomatic assistant before he was threatened and subsequently put in handcuffs.
‘It is difficult to say whether the lunar eclipse clouded the consciousness of the employees of the airline and the police, or the desire to get to know the outstanding heavyweight champion,’ Usyk’s promoter Krassyuk added.
‘So, thank God, the incident is over. We will wait for an official apology and compensation from the airline Ryanair and the explanations from the Polish law enforcement officers.’
A spokesman for the Krakow region border guards, meanwhile, said: ‘The two men had their journey cancelled by the carrier and had their passenger status cancelled.
‘They did not want to leave the gate when requested and that’s why we were called in to take care of the situation.’
Prior to his arrest, Usyk had been expected to travel to London to sit ringside for Anthony Joshua’s IBF world title fight against Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium this Saturday.
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