South African Chris van Heerden last stood in the ring in April 2022. The welterweight has now officially ended his professional career. Nevertheless, he continues to fight – for the freedom of the love of his life.
Unexpected strokes of fate are nothing new for Chris van Heerden. In 2018, the South African boxer’s father was shot in the back in the Johannesburg suburbs when he tried to report a potential deal involving illegal meat traders. The incident took place in front of Chris’ youngest brother Donjuan and was filmed with a cell phone camera; the clip went viral on social media. Van Heerden had to wait a long time for justice – it was not until five years later that the perpetrator was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Visibly relieved, Chris tweets: “We can finally put this behind us.”
The hard times finally seem to be over. The welterweight lost his last outing in the ring in April 2022 against Conor Benn by T.K.O. in round two. The now 37-year-old admits to himself that his passion for the sport died with the death of his father. Chris looks to the future and finds a new love. A few weeks after the redemptive conviction of his father’s murderer, he meets ballerina Ksenia Karelina in his adopted hometown of Santa Monica in California (USA). They enjoy a wonderful time together, crowned by a trip to Turkey at the turn of the year 2023/24. “Those were the best days we’ve ever had as a couple,” recalls Chris, “it was magical!”
The two make big plans in Istanbul on New Year’s Eve. Ksenia, a native of Russia, is looking forward to visiting her family in Ekaterinburg. Chris gives her the plane tickets as a birthday present. The 33-year-old dancer has dual citizenship (Ksenia also has an American passport) and sets off for Russia without a care in the world, even though she knows that relations between the USA and her home country have been more than tense since the start of the war in Ukraine. A momentous decision for her love.
Overpowering opponent
The ballerina is harassed as soon as she lands at the airport in Russia and the authorities confiscate her cell phone. Over the next few days, Chris, who is also an American by choice, has to communicate via Ksenia’s mother’s phone. On January 27, the young woman sets off to return her checked cell phone to the authorities. But Ksenia is arrested and remanded in custody. Her dual citizenship is not recognized by Russia. And according to the indictment, the FSB secret service accuses her of having “proactively collected funds for a Ukrainian organization since February 2022, which were subsequently used by the Ukrainian armed forces to purchase tactical medication, equipment, weapons and ammunition”.
If convicted of treason, the ballerina faces twelve years in a prison camp. Contrary to the charges, Ksenia only donated 51.80 dollars to a New York charity organization that supports Ukraine in February 2022. In addition, the Russian authorities discovered messages on her smartphone in which the dancer expressed her disapproval of the war in Ukraine on social media and called for a settlement to the conflict.
For ten months now, Chris van Heerden has been fighting for the release of his girlfriend – and against an overpowering opponent. “I’m just a boxer. I’m not interested in politics,” says the former IBO champion. Russia prohibits any contact between US-Americans and the detainee. This makes him the only link between Ksenia’s Russian lawyer, her family, the US State Department, the White House and all other US authorities. Chris is rising to the challenge. He officially ended his career in August, but now “The Heat” has to fight a different battle. And he is putting all his energy into dealing with the Russian bureaucracy.
Doomed to wait
Van Heerden has appealed against the verdict in Yekaterinburg. In the USA, he pulled out all the stops and arranged for an investigation to be carried out to prove that his girlfriend was wrongly imprisoned. If the evidence is provided, Ksenia will be given priority in a possible future prisoner exchange between the USA and Russia. The native South African is currently in talks with the US State Department. But he has been given to understand that he has exhausted all resources at the moment. Doomed to wait, Chris is using every opportunity to keep the story present on social media and in the public eye. Only if the case is not forgotten is there hope that something will change soon.
The couple are only allowed to exchange letters twice a month, no more communication is permitted. A severe test for their young love. But Chris is fighting back: “I’m the only one who can help Ksenia get out of this. It’s a tough fight for me at the moment, but I’m very confident that we’ll win. Ksenia will be with me again and we will have a story to tell. It’s a beautiful love story.” Chris van Heerden continues to hope for positive news every day. So that her New Year’s Eve 2025 will be even better than 2024.
Text Julius Stoll