“It's a great country. It's not a rich country but it has great people, nice people. It's my motherland. A lot of my life afterwards was in Russia but I love Kyrgyzstan. I love the culture and it's different to Russia. Kyrgyzstan is a Muslim country and I have many Muslim friends.”

Kyrgyzstani-Russian professional boxer, born 1990

Dmitry Bivol is a Kyrgyzstani-Russian professional boxer of the modern era. He was born in 1990 and is known for becoming a major figure in the light-heavyweight division. Bivol won the undisputed light-heavyweight title in February 2025 and has held the unified championship since April 2025, along with the International Boxing Organization and Ring magazine titles since February 2025. Before that, he held the World Boxing Association light-heavyweight title from 2019 to 2024, and he also held the IBO title during his first reign as champion.