Boxing legend Barry McGuigan has backed a call by Wladimir Klitschko for world sport to turn its back on Russia.
Former world heavyweight champion Klitschko made an emotional appeal for sports fans across the globe to help him and brother Vitali to turn up the pressure on Vladimir Putin and his war against their Ukraine homeland.
And ex-featherweight world champ McGuigan believes they deserve all the support they can muster.
McGuigan said: “I agree 100 per cent with the Klitschko brothers. It is important to make a stand.
“Boxing is a global sport. Until there is peace, no Russian fighter should be seen in a ring again.
“We have to do this. We have to stand together. Sport gets the message across.
“It is a very effective way to make a point because it is watched by millions all over the world.
“You can see how important sport is to Russia. Putin spent billions hosting the Winter Olympics and the World Cup.
“He understands its power and loves nothing more than celebrating the success of Russian sportsmen and women.
“Dimitri Bivol’s WBA light heavyweight title defence against Saul Canelo Alvarez in May would ordinarily be one of the highlights of the boxing year.
“But there is no way it should go ahead. It’s not about money. It’s about life. We are on the verge of an apocalypse.
“We have to stand up and show by peaceful means that what is happening in Ukraine in Russia’s name is unacceptable.
“If that means expelling world champions then so be it. Better that than murdering innocents and destroying people’s homes and cities.”
And McGuigan also paid tribute to the fighters who are standing with the Ukrainian people to defend their country.
“Four of the greatest fighters in the world are putting their lives on the line,” he said.
“We have to stand with them.
“What Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, Oleksandr Usyk and Vasyl Lomachenko are showing is proper bravery.
“The Ukrainian people are unbelievably courageous and strong.
“We have to salute them and support them.
“I’m so saddened by it all. I know the world is in a very delicate position.
“We have to be careful of this mad man pressing the red button, as it were.
“So what can we realistically do to freeze Russia out? This is one way of showing our opposition, our disapproval and our disgust.
“It is hard on the likes of Bivol, fellow light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and other Russian sportsmen and women in the sense that they are not the ones dropping the bombs.
“But there is no alternative. Other sports have done the same.
“Russia has been kicked out of the football World Cup, their clubs excluded from European competition and the Formula One team Haas has parted with driver Nikita Mazepin.
“The fight has to come from every angle, diplomatic, economic, sport.
“We have to stop this monster Putin and his murderous regime any way we can.”
McGuigan's comments came before the British Boxing Board of Control banned fighters registered to Russian or Belrussian federations from boxing in the UK.
The move follows similar global sporting sanctions in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On Thursday, BBBofC general secretary Robert Smith issued a brief statement confirming the governing body’s position.
“The British Boxing Board of Control will not permit boxers registered/licensed by the Russian Boxing Federation or Belarussian Federation of professional boxing to compete in the United Kingdom under the jurisdiction of the BBBofC at this time,” the statement read.
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