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Unified heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk will face former kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven on Saturday in front of the pyramids of Giza, Egypt, (DAZN, 1 p.m. ET).
Usyk’s WBC heavyweight title will be on the line, while the WBA and IBF will allow Usyk to fight Verhoeven in an unsanctioned bout. Should Verhoeven pull off the upset, Usyk will forfeit those titles and the championships will become vacant.
Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) enters as a massive -2500 favorite, per DraftKings Sportsbook.
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The fight marks Usyk’s first appearance since his second-round stoppage victory over Daniel Dubois in July 2025 to reclaim the undisputed heavyweight championship. He vacated the WBO title four months later.
Verhoeven, widely regarded as one of the greatest kickboxers of all time, holds a 66-10 record with 21 knockouts in kickboxing competition. His lone professional boxing match came in April 2014, when he scored a second-round knockout of Janos Finfera in Germany.
The undercard features Hamzah Sheeraz against Alem Begic for the vacant WBO super middleweight title, and Jack Catterall meets Shakhram Giyasov for the vacant WBA “regular” welterweight belt.
Andreas Hale, Nick Parkinson and James Regan will provide live coverage, including results and round-by-round analysis.
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