Oleksandr Usyk and Rico Verhoeven met at the final press conference before their WBC heavyweight title fight, which was scheduled to take place on Thursday at the foot of the Giza Pyramids in Egypt. According to the organization, this fight, scheduled for Saturday, May 23, will be the first fight for the WBC world title in the region. World Boxing Council. The event was attended by WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman.

Usyk (24-0, 15 KO) again referred to his decision to voluntarily defend himself against an opponent from outside the ranks of professional boxing. He considered the fight a personal choice after years of mandatory and unification commitments. “For once, I want to do what I want,” the champion said in an interview with WBC. He also waved away questions about his rival’s physical advantage, telling reporters that “size doesn’t matter” and describing Verhoeven as a “unsafe guy.”

I’m talking to Reuters in the pipeline, Usyk said the location matters more than the result. “It’s significant not only for me. It’s significant for all of boxing, all people and Egypt,” he said. “We are here for the first time. I think after this fight many people will look and say: ‘Oh, it’s possible, maybe we will organize a fight for the pyramids in Egypt, or maybe in Paris.'”

Verhoeven relies on the weight difference

Verhoeven, a longtime GLORY kickboxing champion, built his pre-fight message around the size difference. He is 6-foot-10 and typically weighs between 265 and 275 pounds, while Usyk, a former undisputed cruiserweight, has weighed around 225 pounds in his recent heavyweight fights. In a conversation at the beginning of the preparations, Verhoeven said that a spotless shot would change the course of the match.

“When I take my best shot at him, he will fall because that is a 20-kilogram difference in weight,” Verhoeven said in comments published by Boxing News 24. “He’s like a trained cruiserweight and I’m a natural heavyweight.”

The 37-year-old Dutchman described the crossover as a sign that conventional boundaries in combat sports no longer apply. He told Reuters that the fight “shows that there are no limits to what is possible, which means that in fighting and in different sports, top dogs in different sports are fighting each other and also in every possible place.”

He also described the fight as a meeting of two dominant champions. “I spent twelve years as the undisputed heavyweight kickboxing champion and achieved everything I wanted to achieve,” Verhoeven said, according to MMA mania. “But staying at the top for so long hasn’t reduced the hunger, it’s actually made it stronger. Usyk is the undisputed fighter in boxing. That’s the kind of challenge that motivates me. Undisputed versus undisputed.”

Details of the fight

The winner will receive a WBC belt specially ordered for this occasion. Sulaiman told Reuters he would be called the “King of the Nile Belt”, describing it as a unique trophy for the winner.

The 39-year-old Usyk holds the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight belts and has not fought since he stopped Daniel Dubois in five rounds at Wembley Stadium in July last year. After a long career in kickboxing, Verhoeven begins his career with a 1-0 record in professional boxing. The 12-round fight is for the WBC heavyweight championship and will be broadcast on DAZN pay-per-view.

“I believe he is one of the goats in boxing. It would be an honor to share the ring with him and if I get the chance, I will definitely win,” Hamzah said after his victory over Begic.

Sheeraz made this comment after saying he plans to win more super middleweight titles after moving up from 160 pounds.

“I’ll fight anyone. Look, there were boxing kings in the ring tonight and I’m trying to follow in their footsteps. So I’m just going to beat whoever I put in front of me.”

“So I’m going to take all the belts this time and inshallah, next year you will be able to see Hamzah Sheeraz as the unified champion in the 168 division,” Hamzah said.

The path to a Sheeraz-Canelo fight could open quickly if Alvarez defeats Christian Mbilli on September 12 in Riyad. Canelo’s victory will likely allow him to retain the WBC title again, while Sheeraz now holds the WBO belt after Saturday’s victory.

This would give Riyadh Season a ready-made unification fight between the two marquee names at 168 pounds.

Sheeraz’s team already seems interested in forcing the fight. Manager Spencer Brown pointed openly at Canelo after the fight when discussing the newly crowned champion’s next step.

“We are marching in the face of Canelo boxing,” Brown said.

“This is the fight we want.”

Maybe it’s finally time for Sheeraz. He has picked up back-to-back stoppage wins since moving up to super middleweight, and his size and offensive style appear to be better at 168 pounds than they were at the end of his middleweight career.

Canelo is still the bigger star by a mile, but Riyad has shown he’s willing to take on younger, undefeated fighters against established fighters if enough belts are on the line. Sheeraz seemed to be part of that conversation on Saturday night.

Canelo Alvarez commented on the controversial break between Oleksandr Usyk and Rico Verhoeven.

The boxing world was buzzing with their reaction Usyk successfully defended his heavyweight crown against Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

However, for a long time it seemed that this would not be an effective defense, and the final came in the 11th round when referee Mark Lyson stopped the fight, which many viewers prematurely believed.

Verhoeven performed well above expectations, causing Usyk numerous problems throughout the fight, but although he recovered from the knockdown, the kickboxing star was stopped on his feet and denied the chance to advance to the 12th round.

Tony Bellew believes Verhoeven should be given a chance to continue his career, but Mexican superstar Canelo does not share the same view.

I talk to professional boxing fansCanelo revealed that he agreed with the judge’s decision.

“It was a good fight, I don’t think so [that it was was an early stoppage]I think they saved a brutal knockout.”

Usyk is expected to take some time before deciding on his next move, with some fans calling for an immediate rematch with Verhoeven while others want him to face mandatory WBC title challenger Agit Kabayel now.

As for Canelo, he will return to action in September and will look to reclaim his world titles when he fights WBC super middleweight champion Christian Mbilli in Riyad, Saudi Arabia.