In a tumultuous week for boxing, Oleksandr Usyk pulled a surprise of his own.
This week, Floyd Mayweather scheduled a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, while Conor Benn made a shock move to US promoter Zuffa, booking a spot on Tyson Fury’s undercard. On Friday, unified heavyweight world champion Usyk revealed that he plans to box as a kickboxer when he returns to the ring.
Usyk will face Rico Verhoeven for the WBC world heavyweight title on May 23 in Giza, Egypt.
The WBC has confirmed that Usyk will voluntarily defend his belt before facing a mandatory challenger.
Although Verhoeven has a background in boxing, he is best known for his accomplishments as a kickboxer. Similar to Usyk in boxing, Verhoeven is the dominant heavyweight in the sport.
The Dutchman has the longest winning streak in Glory Promotions history. He has previously competed in MMA and professional boxing, winning his only fight by knockout in each sport.
Verhoeven defended his heavyweight title last June and was subsequently stripped of the championship for the victory, leaving kickboxing with an outstanding record of 76 fights and 66 wins.
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However, he will be in a tough situation to defeat Oleksandr Usyk. The Ukrainian was a world championship and Olympic gold medalist as an amateur. He has never lost a professional match. He won the World Boxing Super Series at cruiserweight and became the undisputed world champion at 200 pounds.
During his heavyweight career, he defeated Anthony Joshua twice, Tyson Fury twice, and Daniel Dubois twice, becoming the undisputed champion in that weight class twice as well.
Liam Harrison is a British kickboxing legend. The Muay Thai fighter also competes in ONE Championship, and while he praises Verhoeven, even Harrison doesn’t expect him to beat Usyk.
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Harrison told Sky Sports: “If Rico wants to get any kind of advantage over me, I think he needs to hurt his leg!”
“No one can beat Usyk in a boxing match. I don’t care who you are. He’s the best heavyweight on the planet, the best heavyweight of this era. If guys like Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua can’t hurt him, no one’s gonna be able to hurt him.”
“Rico is going to have to throw a few leg kicks if he wants to beat him there!”
However, he understands why this event happened. “Again, Rico is a legend in kickboxing. Those guys who paved the way for kickboxing were the GOATs of their generation. They deserve a payday like this and a chance to showcase their abilities and make a lot of money,” he said. “You should take a look.”
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Boxing promoter Frank Warren represents both Fabio Wardley, Usyk’s previous mandatory challenger, and Ajit Kabayer, Usyk’s mandatory WBC belt.
But he expected Usyk to have a “crossover” fight like this one against Verhoeven. “He’s only thinking about the game now. What is the value of the game to him? That’s why he wants this,” Warren told Sky Sports.
“He probably looked at what AJ did, what Tyson did when he fought (Francis) Ngannou, and thought he could get some of that and they look at it as an easier job sometimes. We’ll see if that’s the case or not.”
“Usyk just wants a paycheck right now. He made his mark in boxing. He’s a 21st century heavyweight and that’s where he belongs.”
