Photo: EPA
The fight is set to take place soon. Dutch kickboxer Rico Verhoeven made a bold statement ahead of his bout against unified heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk.
“I’m training like crazy. I’m putting in a huge amount of work because this is a massive transition — from kickboxing to boxing. From five championship rounds to twelve. If I land on Usyk, he’ll go down. But hopefully we go all 12 rounds and just enjoy it,” Verhoeven said in an interview with DAZN.
The boxing event is scheduled for May 23 in Giza. Only the WBC title from Usyk’s collection will be on the line. The Ukrainian also holds the WBA and IBF belts, as well as secondary titles from IBO and The Ring.
The 36-year-old Verhoeven has just one professional boxing fight, dating back to April 2014, when he knocked out Hungary’s János Finfera. However, he is a legend in kickboxing, with 76 fights and 66 wins (21 by knockout), and a record 13 title defenses in the Glory promotion.
