Oleksandr Usyk sprang a surprise of his own in a tumultuous week in the world of boxing.
This week Floyd Mayweather inked a rematch with Manny Pacquiao and Conor Benn made a shock move to US promoter Zuffa, booking a slot on Tyson Fury’s undercard. On Friday Usyk, the unified heavyweight world champion, revealed he would box a kickboxer when he returns to the ring.
Usyk will fight Rico Verhoeven for the WBC heavyweight world title on May 23 in Giza, Egypt.
The WBC has allowed Usyk a voluntary defence of its belt before he has to face his mandatory challenger.
Verhoeven does have some boxing experience but he is renowned for his exploits as a kickboxer. Like Usyk in boxing, Verhoeven is the dominant heavyweight in his sport.
The Dutchman has the longest winning streak ever in the Glory promotion. He has previously competed in MMA and professional boxing, winning his only fight in each sport by knockout.
Verhoeven defended his heavyweight title last June and after that victory vacated his championship, leaving kickboxing with an outstanding record of 66 wins in 76 fights.
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But he will be hard pushed to defeat Oleksandr Usyk. The Ukrainian was a World and Olympic gold medallist as an amateur. He’s never lost a professional bout. At cruiserweight he won the World Boxing Super Series while becoming the undisputed world champion at 200lbs.
In his heavyweight career he’s beaten Anthony Joshua twice, Tyson Fury twice and Daniel Dubois twice, becoming the undisputed champion twice in that division too.
Liam Harrison is a British legend from the world of kickboxing. A Muay Thai fighter, he has starred in ONE Championship and while he admires Verhoeven, even Harrison doesn’t expect him to beat Usyk.
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Harrison told Sky Sports: “I think Rico’s going to have to boot him in the leg if he wants to get any sort of advantage over him!
“No one can beat Usyk in a boxing fight, I don’t care who you are. He’s the best heavyweight on this planet and he’s the best heavyweight of this era. If guys like Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua can’t put a dent in him, no one’s going to be able to put a dent in him I’m afraid.
“Rico’s going to have to throw a few leg kicks if he wants to get one over on him in there!”
But he understands why the event is taking place. “Again Rico’s a legend in kickboxing. Guys like that who paved the way in kickboxing have been the GOATs [greatest of all time] in their generation, they deserve to get these sort of paydays and these sort of chances to showcase what they can do and get some big money,” he said. “It’ll be nice to see.”
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Boxing promoter Frank Warren represents both Fabio Wardley, who was Usyk’s previous mandatory challenger, and Agit Kabayel, who will be Usyk’s mandatory for the WBC belt.
He was, however, expecting Usyk to take a ‘crossover’ bout like this fight with Verhoeven. “All he’s doing now he’s looking at fights, what is the value for him of a fight. That’s why he wants this,” Warren told Sky Sports.
“He’s probably looked at what AJ’s done, what Tyson did when he fought [Francis] Ngannou and thinking he’ll have some of that and they look at it sometimes as being an easier job. Whether it is or it’s not, we will see.
“Usyk just wants the paydays now. He’s stamped his mark in boxing. He’s the heavyweight of the 21st century and that’s where he’s at.”
