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How Jason Statham helped Rico Verhoeven in his fight against Oleksandr Usyk

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He didn’t know it at the time, but a chance meeting with Jason Statham a few years ago in London led one day to Rico Verhoeven fighting Oleksandr Usyk for the world heavyweight title.

Verhoeven, a kickboxing champion who held the GLORY heavyweight title for over a decade and is undefeated since 2015, will face Usyk on May 23 in Egypt, in front of the Pyramids of Giza.

“Glory of Giza: Undefeated Icons,” promoted by Ring Magazine, is the latest mega crossover fight the boxing world is becoming accustomed to.

The exhibit itself will be impressive enough, but the fact that it has the lend a hand of an A-list star adds a little more magic to the event. According to Verhoeven, it was Statham, a Hollywood superstar known to be a combat sports fan, who contacted him and asked him to stop by while they were both in London.

Verhoeven, a 6-foot-5, 270-pound beast who has dominated his sport for years, has also dabbled in the film business, appearing in several action films and most recently working on

Mutual friends contacted them and Verhoeven drove over an hour to catch up with Statham.

“It was so cold that we just said yes,” Verhoeven tells ESPN. “You know, sometimes you just have a certain energy that just fits with people, and that’s what we had. We just kept in touch from then on.”

Their paths crossed again in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, when Usyk fought Tyson Fury.

“He was like bro; you have to be here! This has to happen,” the Dutchman continues. “He started talking to His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority] about me, he just planted the seed.”

Rapid forward to last September in Las Vegas, and Statham, who has been a regular in the ring alongside Alalshikh during the biggest fights of the last two years, was on hand for Canelo Alvarez’s fight against Terence Crawford. According to Verhoeven, he again gave Alalshikh the idea of ​​having the kickboxing great take part in his own mega fight.

“Sunday morning Amsterdam time, I’m running on the treadmill, Jason calls,” Verhoeven explains. “I said, ‘Bro, I’m on the track, I’ll call you [back]. He said, “Listen, snail-paced down.” I talked [Alalshikh] is at the bottom; he loves it. He’s watched all your fights and he wants to do something. I’ve given him your contact details and his team will be in touch.

“So yes, he is [Statham] there was glue.”

Preparations are underway for the Anthony Joshua fight, almost confirmed and scheduled for March, and Verhoeven’s name came up at the post-fight press conference following Joshua’s victory over Jake Paul in November.

However, Joshua’s involvement in a December 31 car crash that killed two of his friends left Verhoeven and the British heavyweight’s career in limbo. It was back to the drawing board for Verhoeven, who was still desperate for a substantial fight.

He had offers from the UFC, but his goal was boxing, which was more suited to his skills. His team decided to present the idea of ​​​​fighting Usyk to Alalshikh.

Why not?

“He is a champion, I am a champion in my discipline, let’s talk about it,” says Verhoeven. “I called them and said, ‘I have an idea, I just want to pitch it… Just let me know what you think.

“I hear, ‘I love it.’

“The rest is history. They talked about it [Usyk]he was excited about it and said, “I love it too, let’s do it.”

Verhoeven, a kickboxing icon who will go down in history as one of the best in the history of the sport, will fight the elite heavyweight boxer in the world, but it will be a fight for the real title, and the WBC will confirm that their belt will be on the line.

The fight divided the boxing world, but it is another showcase that will draw attention to the sport.

And against the background of historic pyramids, it will certainly look like from a movie.

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Peter Fury claims Tyson used the wrong tactics against Usyk

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Image: Tyson Fury's Social Media Post Keeps the Joshua Fight Fantasy Alive in the UK

“Well, he has his team there and I’m not criticizing anyone, but in both fights his tactics weren’t good,” Peter said in an interview with Sport Boxing.

“It worked out badly because look, if we have a little guy here who can throw, let’s say, a welterweight who can throw a thousand punches, and we have a heavyweight, will a heavyweight fighter throw a thousand punches with him? No.”

“Or maybe he’ll step in and take one good shot? Absolutely.”

“So basically yes, the strategy was just wrong. It doesn’t mean Usyk was better than him. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t say anything. You misunderstand the tactics and they are wrong.

“And you know, when you look at Usyk’s structure and what he does, when he distances himself and tries to box an elite boxer who is lighter than you and who is giving away pounds, he will ping you all over the shop. That should be noticed,” Peter Fury said.

Tyson Fury announced his return earlier this year and is expected to have a preparatory fight before the start of his scheduled series with Anthony Joshua. Queensbury promoter Frank Warren recently confirmed that Fury’s next opponent could be announced in the coming days, with the long-awaited fight against Joshua expected to take place later this year.

Usyk remains at the top of the heavyweight division and has been ordered to fight WBC interim champion Agit Kabayel. Warren also confirmed that negotiations for the fight are ongoing.

Fury’s third meeting with Usyk has not been announced. Peter Fury, however, remains convinced that the strategy used in the first two fights determined the result.

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The politician’s perfect 12-0 KO record remains the strangest in boxing

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Jorge Kahwagi poses at a WBC weigh-in during his controversial 12-0 professional boxing career

Jorge Kahwagi achieved something almost impossible in professional boxing. The Mexican politician retired with a perfect record of 12-0, knocked out every opponent he faced, and finished his entire career in just 15 rounds.

On paper, this looks like one of the most devastating runs the sport has ever seen. In fact, many boxing fans wondered if they even believed it.

Perfect record

Kahwagi turned professional in 2001, despite having no boxing experience. Over the next fourteen years, he set an undefeated record, won regional titles, and never once heard the final bell.

Twelve fights brought twelve victories. All twelve victories were by knockout in just fifteen rounds.

The numbers are tough to understand even now.

Several of Kahwagi’s opponents entered the ring in defeat. Others seemed hopelessly outmatched.

But the record continued to grow as the politician and businessman rose through the cruiserweight ranks without ever being seriously tested.

By the time he retired in 2015 after returning from a ten-year hiatus for one final fight, Kahwagi owned one of boxing’s most remarkable undefeated records.

Why fans never bought it

The controversy surrounding Kahwaga was not in itself. This is how some of these victories turned out.

His last fight against Ramon Olivas remains the fight most frequently mentioned in discussions about Kahwagi’s career. The break came after seemingly minimal contact, prompting criticism from fans and observers.

Doubts have already surrounded previous victories, including the victory over veteran Roberto Coelho.

Whether these doubts were justified or not, the damage was done and many fans never accepted Kahwagi’s record at face value.

WBC

Boxing has seen this before

Kahwagi’s record may be extraordinary, but in boxing there is always controversy when it comes to results.

As WBN reports, while John Riel Casimero faces a fight-fixing investigation in 2025, debates continue to arise in the contemporary era about what happens inside the ropes.

Long before that, Roy Jones Jr. denied winning Olympic gold in Seoul despite dominating Park Si-hun in what many still consider the greatest heist in boxing history.

More than thirty years later, Park returned the medal to Jones.

The Kahwagi case falls into a different category, but the result is often the same. Once fans stop believing what they’re watching, the debate never really stops.

Still one of the strangest

Few fighters retire with a perfect record, and even fewer retire after every knockout victory.

Kahwagi handled both, finishing his entire professional career in just 15 innings, and those numbers remain remarkable.

More than a decade after his retirement, the debate surrounding his record has never really died down.

That’s why Jorge Kahwagi’s perfect 12-0 record remains one of the strangest in boxing history.


About the author

Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.

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Teofimo Lopez sees only one winner of David Benavidez vs. Dmitry Bivol title fight

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Teofimo Lopez can only see one winner in David Benavidez vs Dmitry Bivol title fight

One of the most coveted fights in boxing right now is the lithe heavyweight clash between unified champion Dmitry Bivol and WBC ruler David Benavidez for the undisputed 175-pound crown.

However, two-division world champion Teofimo Lopez believes that the fight could end in a “massacre”.

Bivol won the undisputed lithe heavyweight title of the world took revenge for his defeat against Artur Beterbiev in February last yearbut soon afterwards the Russian was stripped of the WBC marble and Benavidez became world champion.

“The Mexican Monster” has since won the unified cruiserweight crown, but maintains he would be willing to cut weight to face Bivol and claim the undisputed honors.

Speaking on Inside The Ring programLopez renamed Benavidez the “Massacre Monster” when discussing the potential fight, believing the age difference between the two lithe heavyweight champions could be crucial to the outcome of the fight.

“I’m going to call Benavidez a ‘massacre monster’ because, man, [that performance against Ramirez] it was nasty. It’s really nasty, really.

“He [Benavidez] enters its flowering period, while the other [Bivol] is on the way out. You have to think about these things too.”

Bivol fulfilled his IBF obligation by defending his belts against Michael Eifert last weekend, but the WBO ordered him to face mandatory challenger Callum Smith in order to retain the WBO belt.

As a result, it appears that a potential Bivol-Benavidez clash will have to wait until 2027, with Beterbiev also being considered for the trilogy.

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