Oleksandr Usyk is scheduled to defend the WBC heavyweight title against kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven on May 23, an event set to take place at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, Ring Magazine announced Friday.
Usyk hasn’t entered the squared circle since July 2025, when he improved to 24-0 as a professional with a fifth-round knockout over Daniel Dubois to retain the WBA WBC, WBO, IBO and The Ring heavyweight titles, adding the IBF belt to his collection.
The boxing superstar won six bouts over the past four years, scoring two wins over Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Dubois each.
Verhoeven only fought once in boxing, a second-round knockout in Germany in 2014. The kickboxing great parted ways with GLORY after defending his title over Artem Vakhitov in June 2025 and had conversations with the UFC about fighting Derrick Lewis on UFC 324 in January, but ultimately opted not to sign with the MMA organization.
The former GLORY superstar went undefeated in the last 11 years, an outstanding 22-fight winning streak with key victories.
“I truly respect people whop reach the very top in their sport,” Usyk told Ring. “Rico is one of them — a powerful athlete and a great champion. Being a champion isn’t just about belts.”
Verhoeven told the magazine that being a kickboxing champion “for that long didn’t take away from the hunger.”
“Usyk is the undisputed in boxing,” Verhoeven said. “That’s the kind of challenge that motivated me. Undisputed versus undisputed.”
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