Pound-for-pound great, Oleksandr Usyk, was back in action earlier today (Sat., May 23, 2026), defending his WBC Heavyweight title against kickboxing legend, Rico Verhoeven, in front of the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo, Egypt in what was truly a one-of-kind setting for a boxing match.
It took a bit for Usyk to get warmed up, as Verhoeven tried to set the pace early. And set the pace he did, clipping the champ with big shots early on. And that was the story for the first four rounds, with Rico pushing
the pacing, easily winning the first two frames. Undeterred, “The Cat” played it cool, analyzed and found his groove as the rounds went by, winning a few rounds.
Still, Rico never back down and always kept pushing the pace, tagging the champion with big shots along the way. Usyk couldn’t find his groove after Rico started to push the pressure again and clearly won round five through 10 and was well on his way to an upset loss for the ages. But in waning moments of round 11 Usyk tagged an over-zealous Verhoeven with a nasty uppercut that dropped him. After answering the call, the warning for the final 10 seconds sounded. But in an interesting twist, Rico’s mouthpiece came out, forcing the referee to put a stop to the fight, giving Rico time to put it in, as well as Usyk valuable seconds to finish the fight.
And finish it he did, as he rushed to the corner and pounced on Verhoeven who was visibly hurt. And with one second left in the round the referee stepped in to put an end to the bout, much to the disappointment of many, who felt the stoppage was premature.
Check out the highlights below:
Props to Verhoeven for taking on such a big challenge in what is just his second-ever documented pro boxing match, and he was well on his way to pulling off the biggest upset in boxing history which would have mirrored that of Buster Douglas defeating Mike Tyson. He never backed down and he earned the respect of not only Usyk, but the entire boxing community and that stoppage will surely be talked about for weeks to come.
As for what’s next for Usyk, that’s still up in the air seeing as how he’s taken out the top talent (several more than once). That said, he still has a couple of current champions he has yet to face in WBA champion Murat Gassiev and WBC interim champion, Agit Kabayel. Unfortunately, none of those world-class fighters carry the name value and intrigue to get a ton of people hyped, so it remains to be seen what “The Cat” decides to do next.
After the fight, talks of a rematch were discussed in the ring, so we could very well get the chance to see this fight once more.
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