Boxing
Derek Chisora says Rico Verhoeven beats Usyk
Chisora: “I think Usyk will lose this fight in Egypt,” Chisora said in an interview with Sport Boxing.
Jordan: “Oh, shut up, Derek. You know you don’t.”
Chisora: “I’m telling you.”
Jordan: “You’re just saying that to get a reaction.”
Chisora: “The kickboxer will win.”
Jordan continued to question the predictions, arguing that Verhoeven’s strength and size would not be enough against a fighter with Usyk’s elite-level movement and experience.
Jordan: “In what universe?”
Chisora: “Just hit the guy.”
Jordan: “Yes, I know. But it’s not as basic as you know.”
Chisora: “I’m not trying to get a raise. I’m telling you.”
Spencer Oliver also takes issue with Chisora’s stance, warning that Verhoeven faces a huge task against a fighter who is still considered by many to be boxing’s top heavyweight.
Oliver: “Verhoeven would probably be a bigger underdog than Dave Allen against Hrgovic.”
“None of the previous players was able to deal such a blow to Aleksander Usyk.”
Chisora later stood by the prediction and argued that people underestimate Verhoeven due to his kickboxing experience.
Chisora: “Everyone is effortless for Usyk because of the way he trains and his boxing.”
Jordan: “You weren’t effortless on him though, were you?”
Chisora: “It wasn’t effortless for me because I didn’t have the right game plan to maul him.”
Jordan: “But don’t you think Kabayel is also that guy where he works on the job rate?”
Chisora: “The kickboxer beats him and we will see a rematch.”
Chisora also bizarrely suggested that the fight was arranged because of his connection to actor Jason Statham, arguing that boxing is often about “who you know” rather than rankings or title positions.
Jordan and Oliver treated this prediction as fantasy throughout the entire discussion, but Chisora never once backed down from it. The former heavyweight title challenger has repeatedly insisted that Verhoeven’s size, strength and unpredictability will cause Usyk far more problems than most people expect ahead of Saturday’s fight in Egypt.
Three American champions from different eras are often brought into the same conversation when fans discuss skills, defense and in-ring IQ. Sugar Ray Leonard, Pernell Whitaker and Floyd Mayweather Jr. They rose to the top in different ways, but each left behind a style that younger players still try to emulate.
Leonard emerged from the 1976 Olympics with charisma, speed and the ability to fight at a pace that overwhelmed his opponents. His amateur background was robust even before winning Olympic gold in Montreal. As a professional, he went through one of the hardest eras in the history of sports. Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler were not carefully selected opponents. Leonard fought them all during a period when elite welterweights regularly faced each other.
Whitaker may have been the purest defensive player of the three. His 1984 Olympic gold medal helped launch a professional career built on reflexes, balance and anticipation. Many fans still believe he deserved the decision in his 1993 fight against Julio Cesar Chavez. Whitaker was arduous to hit cleanly, but his style sometimes hurt him in the eyes of the judges because he focused more on control than doing damage.
Mayweather took parts of Leonard and Whitaker and turned them into a business model that kept him undefeated for 50 fights. Early in his career as “Pretty Boy”, he relied more on speed and combinations, before later becoming a more cautious and defensive fighter. His victories over Diego Corrales, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Canelo Alvarez and Manny Pacquiao helped build one of the most successful careers in boxing history.
Arguments between fans usually come down to preference. Leonard fought in the deepest era. Whitaker may have had the best natural defense. Mayweather retired undefeated and was the most financially successful of the three. None of the answers are clear, which is probably why the debate still rages on all these years later.
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Last updated: 20/05/2026 at 17:38
Tyson Fury may have accidentally written about his career by warning Fabio Wardley that a brutal defeat could permanently change a fighter, as Fury himself hasn’t looked the same since his encounter with Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury recently cited Deontay Wilder as an example of a heavyweight whose career took a turn after receiving a trilogy penalty, warning Wardley of the possible long-term effects of his stint with Daniel Dubois. The comparison has attracted attention as many fans believe Fury has undergone a similar decline since losing to Usyk twice.
Tony Bellew added fuel to that conversation this week by discussing Fury’s failures and the difficulty of fighting Usyk.
“Just tell it like it is. He was better than you. Tyson Fury spent 12 months belittling him, dehumanizing him and insulting him,” Bellew said on the Fight Your Corner podcast.
“Then when he beat him I thought, ‘I’ve been robbed’. No, he’s amazing, I just didn’t think he was that good, he doesn’t deserve the recognition he deserves, which I don’t like. When you get beat by someone better than you, just put your hands up.
“It’s killing him. That’s what breaks his heart the most: the fact that he’s met someone who is just better than him. But he’s not the only one and he has to accept that,” Tony Bellew told Sky Sports.
What stood out about Bellew’s comments was that he had experienced Usyk himself. Bellew led on two scorecards entering the eighth round of an undisputed cruiserweight fight in 2018 before being stopped.
“Oleksandr Usyk is the only person I met and my game plan was going perfectly. Everything was perfect,” Bellew said. “At the end of round seven I have two cards in my account and I draw a third, but at the beginning of round eight I didn’t know where I was. It made me very tired.
“He’s the best fighter I’ve ever fought. His footwork was on another level. He took everything I did and finally used it against me. He’s unique. I’ve never met anyone who could do to me what he did to me.”
The timing of Bellew’s statement is compelling because Fury’s career has looked very different since his first loss to Usyk. Fury clearly lost the rematch, retired for over a year, and then returned to fight Arslanbek Makhmudov, looking slower and less fluid than the version that dominated Wilder and defeated Wladimir Klitschko earlier in his career.
Fury still won the fight, but the aura that once surrounded him did not fully return.
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Last updated: 20/05/2026 at 12:33
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