Oleksandr Usyk sprung a surprise this week when the unified heavyweight champion revealed he will box a kickboxer on his return. Usyk will fight Rico Verhoeven for the WBC heavyweight world title on May 23 in Giza, Egypt, a voluntary defence the WBC has allowed before he faces his mandatory challenger.
Verhoeven is best known as the dominant heavyweight in kickboxing. The Dutchman holds the longest winning streak in the Glory promotion, vacated his kickboxing title after defending it last June, and boasts a career record of 66 wins in 76 fights. He has also competed in MMA and professional boxing, winning his only fight in each sport by knockout.
But Verhoeven will be hard-pressed to beat Usyk in a pure boxing match. Usyk was a World and Olympic gold medallist as an amateur and remains unbeaten as a professional. At cruiserweight he won the World Boxing Super Series and became the undisputed world champion at 200lbs. In the heavyweight division he has beaten Anthony Joshua twice, Tyson Fury twice and Daniel Dubois twice, and has become undisputed champion there as well.
Liam Harrison, a British Muay Thai legend who has starred in ONE Championship, said he admires Verhoeven but does not expect him to beat Usyk. Speaking to Sky Sports, Harrison said: “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.”
Harrison added he understands why the fight is happening: Verhoeven is a legend in kickboxing and fighters who paved the way deserve paydays and chances to showcase themselves. “Guys like that who paved the way in kickboxing have been the GOATs 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.
Promoter Frank Warren, who represents Fabio Wardley (Usyk’s previous mandatory) and Agit Kabayel (his WBC mandatory), said he expected Usyk to take a crossover bout. Warren told Sky Sports that Usyk is looking at the value of fights and wants paydays: “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. He’s probably looked at what AJ’s done, what Tyson did when he fought 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.”