Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven: What happens if unbeaten unified champion suffers defeat and other questions
Unbeaten unified heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk fights kickboxing superstar Rico Verhoeven in Giza, Egypt on Saturday; What is the situation of the heavyweight world titles, who's due to be next for the champion and why is Usyk fighting Verhoeven?
Monday 18 May 2026 12:35, UK
We answer the key questions ahead of Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven...
What is happening?
Oleksandr Usyk, the unified, still unbeaten and a two-weight, three-time undisputed world champion, is fighting Rico Verhoeven in Giza, Egypt on Saturday May 23.
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Who is Rico Verhoeven?
He has one, only one, professional boxing bout and so the Dutchman is not a noted boxer. He is though a kickboxing superstar and dominated that sport as Glory's heavyweight world champion, vacating that title only last year in a remarkable reign that stretched back to 2013.
Is this a world title fight?
Despite Verhoeven having such limited boxing experience, the WBC are still sanctioning the fight. It means it will be a world championship contest for one of the three belts that the great Ukrainian holds.
Usyk also has the IBF and WBA heavyweight championships. Those sanctioning bodies are permitting him to take this Verhoeven fight without stripping him of their belts.
Could Verhoeven win?
It is hard to imagine Usyk losing. It's almost unthinkable. He remains comfortably the best heavyweight boxer in the world, with Agit Kabayel and Daniel Dubois (whom Usyk has already stopped twice) his nearest contenders.
Verhoeven has sparred elite boxers, like Tyson Fury, for a number of years and has a longstanding relationship with boxing coach Peter Fury. But still, it's a tall, tall order.
What happens if Usyk loses?
If Usyk were to lose, at that moment Rico Verhoeven would become a most unlikely heavyweight world champion.
While Verhoeven can't win the IBF belt, with it not being on the line, if Usyk did lose the IBF would strip him of their championship.
Verhoeven can't win the WBA 'super' title either, but the WBA have decided that with Usyk still being their champion if he is victorious they will count this bout as a successful title defence. If Usyk loses, he wouldn't be immediately stripped of the WBA belt, but the WBA Championship Committee will review his status.
Who will Usyk fight next?
He will be due to make a mandatory defence of the WBC title next. That would have to be against Agit Kabayel, the WBC's Interim titlist and mandatory challenger. But Usyk could always vacate his WBC world championship if he chose to.
Next in the rotation after a WBC mandatory defence, would be a WBA mandatory defence. He would then have 180 days from that WBA mandatory defence to face his IBF mandatory challenger, who'd be the winner of the Richard Torrez-Frank Sanchez undercard bout on Saturday's show.
Usyk though is at a point of his career where he can choose the fights he wants rather than necessarily have his schedule dictated by the sport's sanctioning bodies.
What does Usyk say?
"Rico is the absolute world champion in kickboxing and I am in boxing. For the fans, that's not bad," Usyk told AP.
"Most people don't really understand professional sports. They just watch the picture, and people want bread and circuses.
"We, in turn, went through a certain period of conquering and achieving results. Now we'll make some noise for a while and then return to specifically boxing opponents because there is a certain plan that we are building for ourselves."
Don't miss Chris Billam-Smith vs Ryan Rozicki live on Sky Sports on June 6.
