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Oleksandr Usyk vs. Rico Verhoeven: Who has the edge heading into their fight?
Oleksandr Usyk has spent roughly the past five years dominating his way through world champions in exotic world locations ranging from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley Stadium in London to Kingdom Arena in Riyadh and even Wroclaw Stadium in Poland.
Saturday night, the unified heavyweight champion of the world has the uncharted boxing territory and backdrop of the Pyramids in Giza, Egypt, and live and exclusive on DAZN PPV , where he’ll fight kickboxing legend, Rico Verhoeven. Usyk’s WBC heavyweight title will be on the line.
Since September 2021, Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) has torn through world champions Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, and Daniel Dubois, defeating the British fighters twice apiece — most recently knocking Dubois out last July.
In ‘Glory in Giza’, Usyk meets royalty from another fighting discipline in Verhoeven (66-10, 21 KOs), a 15-time heavyweight kickboxing world champion. Will Usyk make quick work of the kickboxing icon? Or will Verhoeven produce a much better showing than expected? DAZN News probes into who has the edge in this rather unique matchup.
DAZN FACE OFF: Usyk vs. Verhoeven
Watch dramatic clash here
Boxing Styles
Oleksandr Usyk has it all as a boxer, from the nimble footwork, which makes his feints and level changes seamless, to a deep punching bag. He can pressure and fight forward or sit back and calculate a sharply-timed counter. The Ukrainian gathers real-time ring intel brilliantly with a tendency to pick his spots in and out with rhythmic bounce, knowing just the opportune moment to pounce. Simply put: Usyk just might be the most complex puzzle to solve in heavyweight boxing history.
Tomorrow, he goes up against Verhoeven, the ‘King of Kickboxing’ who is disciplined, technical and tactical in dissecting opponents and often overwhelming them with ruthless aggression. He is also the bigger man, standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing in at over 270 pounds for his kickboxing career.
Off boxing footwork alone, though, Usyk touts a major advantage. The punch palette he can draw from will only compound issues for Verhoeven, especially considering the kickboxer tends to open up, overextend, and go too wide with many of his offerings.
Edge: Usyk
Power
Fifteen of Usyk’s 24 professional wins have come by the way of knockout, including the devastating check left hook he raked across Dubois’ jaw in an awestruck KO last summer.
Verhoeven actually touts more knockouts — with 21 — in kickboxing. But these do not level up.
Usyk will be able to discern Verhoeven’s mistakes and make him dearly pay, especially on the counterpunching end … and with power.
Edge: Usyk
Mental Warfare
In their FACE OFF segment for DAZN , Verhoeven vowed to Usyk: “I’m bringing something different to the table that you haven’t seen before.”
Well, yes, because he’s a kickboxing icon who is walking into a boxing ring against the very best heavyweight that the sweet science has to offer.
Testing the heavyweight waters against a contender is tough enough. Doing it against an all-time generational great in Usyk, a two-time undisputed heavyweight king and current unified ruler, is downright dangerous.
Supremely confident in his fighting ability, Verhoeven is going to roll the dice and quickly realize the matrix he is in front of.
Having this at the Pyramids in Giza, and live and exclusive on DAZN PPV, only heaps more pressure that Verhoeven will have to temper. That's a heavy burden to walk into tomorrow.
Edge: Usyk
DAZN News’ Mark Lelinwalla on who has the edge between Usyk and Verhoeven
Usyk negated the skills and power of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, and Daniel Dubois twice apiece over his last six offerings, and they’re some of the world’s best. So just imagine what he’s going to do to a kickboxing king who is reduced to half his arsenal, in only being allowed to punch. I am just giving Verhoeven a puncher’s chance in this one ... and even that is slim. Usyk will let this show go on for as long as he wants to before having his hand raised with an exclamation point.
Watch Usyk vs Verhoeven only on DAZN
Oleksandr Usyk puts his unbeaten record on the line against Rico Verhoeven on Saturday, May 23, in front of the Egyptian pyramids, live and exclusive on DAZN. Buy as a one-off PPV or included, along with Zayas vs. Ennis (June 27) PPV, with a DAZN Ultimate Tier subscription.
