Boxing
Rico Verhoeven needs a bigger upset in his match against Oleksandr Usyk than Tyson Fury needs in his match with Wladimir Klitschko – Peter Fury
Published
3 months agoon
Rico Verhoeven’s trainer, Peter Fury, admits that the kickboxer will have to make the biggest upset in heavyweight history to defeat Oleksandr Usyk on May 23.
That’s more than heavyweight title victories such as Andy Ruiz vs. Anthony Joshua (2019), Lennox Lewis vs. Hasim Rahman (2001), George Foreman vs. Michael Moorer (1994), James “Buster” Douglas vs. Mike Tyson (1990), Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston and Foreman (1964 and 1974) and Leon Spinks vs. Ali (1978).
Douglas was a 42-1 outsider when he knocked out Tyson, while Ruiz was 25-1 when he recently stopped Joshua.
Verhoeven will also enter the ring in front of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt to challenge WBC champion Usyk (24-0, 15 KO), but his trainer Fury has planned one of the biggest heavyweight shocks in recent history.
Fury was in his corner when his nephew Tyson Fury defeated Wladimir Klitschko and passed him, upset to win three world heavyweight titles in 2015, but believes Verhoeven (1-0, 1 KO) defeating the 39-year-old Usyk of Ukraine, like Klitschko, would be the biggest victory of his career.
“That would be above all other concerns,” Fury told ESPN.
“Everyone else was a boxer, but my man is a martial artist. It would be one of the biggest upsets in the history of boxing, it has to be because they were all established boxers or champions, and this will be Rico’s second professional boxing fight. In kickboxing, they have a different approach, but it’s boxing and things have to change.”
“They didn’t give Tyson a chance when he fought Klitschko, experts said he would only win two rounds. But the reality was different, and styles make fights. I can tell you that Rico doesn’t show up just for the money, he will put everything on the line. He has Mount Everest to conquer, but he’s not under pressure, neither am I. I just tell him to enjoy it, and if he loses, he can’t lose with a better person than Usyk.”
“We know Usyk is a phenomenal talent. I’m a realist and I will do everything I can with what we have. But if people write Rico off, they are completely wrong.
“It would be the biggest achievement for me personally because he’s a kickboxer beating the best heavyweight in the world. Tyson beating Klitschko was something special and emotional because he’s my nephew, but I’m also very close to Rico, so that would be special too.”
Verhoeven has held the GLORY kickboxing heavyweight title for more than a decade and is undefeated since 2015, but he will be a clear underdog in his first professional boxing fight since 2014 against ESPN Boxing No. 1 Usyk, who knocked out Daniel Dubois in his last fight to become a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Usyk defeated former champions Joshua, Fury and Dubois twice in a professional career that saw him reign as the undisputed world heavyweight and cruiserweight champion after winning an Olympic gold medal as an amateur.
Peter Fury admits that Verhoeven’s best chance of victory will be a knockout punch against Usyk’s technically excellent boxing skills and deft movement.
“I think it will be very hard to beat Oleksandr Usyk on points,” Fury told ESPN.
“Looking for a substantial punch and a knockout could cost Rico, so we have to find a balance in that. He will do some boxing, he can box, but he has a mountain ahead of him because Usyk can take the shot and he hasn’t shown any weakness so far. I think he’s a great boxer and the eventual world champion.”
“You can have the best match plans in the world, but it’s about taking those plans to matches and seeing if they can be refined at a high level. Rico is versatile and a substantial heavyweight. He’s agile, has a lot of power, can be elusive and can box. He’s sparred with experienced heavyweights like my son Hughie, and a lot of people will be surprised by him.”
Verhoeven, who will be 37 on fight night, prepared with Fury for the Usyk fight at a camp near Rotterdam in his native Netherlands, but they have worked together for more than a decade.
The former heavyweight kickboxing champion is 6-foot-10 and 270 pounds and will have a height and weight advantage over the 6-foot-10 Usyk, who tipped the scales at 227 pounds in his last fight in July.
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Boxing
Peter Fury claims Tyson used the wrong tactics against Usyk
Published
22 minutes agoon
June 4, 2026
“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.
Boxing
The politician’s perfect 12-0 KO record remains the strangest in boxing
Published
2 hours agoon
June 4, 2026
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.
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.
Boxing
Teofimo Lopez sees only one winner of David Benavidez vs. Dmitry Bivol title fight
Published
2 hours agoon
June 4, 2026
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.
Peter Fury claims Tyson used the wrong tactics against Usyk
The politician’s perfect 12-0 KO record remains the strangest in boxing
Teofimo Lopez sees only one winner of David Benavidez vs. Dmitry Bivol title fight
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