Oleksiy Bodnariuk

Sixteen-year-old Oleksiy Bodnariuk, a Ukrainian native and amateur boxer living in Riverhead, became a champion earlier this month after winning a regional tournament in Brooklyn.

The 16-year-old boxer came to the U.S. with his family seeking safety from the war in Ukraine. He struggled to find his place in a strange new land — until he stepped inside the ring at a Riverhead gym.