Rico Verhoeven knows he does not have Oleksandr Usyk’s boxing background.
Before their Glory In Giza heavyweight title fight in Egypt, Verhoeven said his kickboxing base gives Oleksandr Usyk a different problem than the boxers he has beaten during a 24-0 professional run. Usyk has 15 knockouts, an Olympic gold medal, and undisputed championship wins at cruiserweight and heavyweight. Verhoeven is 1-0 as a boxer, but he has spent most of his career as GLORY’s heavyweight king.
At the final press conference, Verhoeven was asked what he can bring that Usyk has not seen before.
“I’m bringing something what he hasn’t seen before because he only facing, he only face boxers, and that they’ve been boxing their whole life and I haven’t,” Verhoeven said. “So it’s just like a whole different approach and like he said, it’s a it’s God’s will. So we’ll see on Saturday. May the best man win.”
Watch the full press conference below.
Usyk was asked if Verhoeven could bring something new into the ring. He did not argue the point from the table.
“Now it’s only words,” Usyk said. “This is press conference and we speak a lot of, but my language will be in ring, you know. Maybe it’s possible, maybe it’s not, we’ll see. It’s God’s will.”
The matchup is a clear style contrast. Usyk has solved elite heavyweights with footwork, southpaw angles, pace, and timing. Verhoeven has to make those tools deal with a bigger fighter whose stance, clinch reactions, distance, and rhythm come from kickboxing.
The Glory In Giza card airs Saturday on DAZN. The weigh-in showed the physical gap clearly, with Verhoeven at 258.7 pounds and Usyk at a career-high 233.3.
Verhoeven Says Peter Fury Helped Turn Boxing Habits Into Boxing Only
Verhoeven said the move into boxing was not as simple as throwing hands without kicks. He has trained striking since childhood, but he said this camp required a different mindset because his old boxing work was always connected to kickboxing.
“Yeah, of course it wasn’t only the opening bell that’s coming, but it was also the whole mindset of thinking about a transition from a sport I’ve been doing since I was a kid,” Verhoeven said. “I was kickboxing since I was 6 years old, and now I was 36 when I started transitioning into boxing. So it was the end of last year and of course I was boxing, but I was boxing to kickbox.”
Verhoeven said Peter Fury’s role was important because the work had to become boxing-specific rather than kickboxing support.
“For Peter, it was a lot of fun because he was training me to box to kickbox, but now he’s training me to box, so he’s having a lot of fun,” Verhoeven said. “He had a lot of fun and especially for me it was to be open-minded and to test myself and like you said the curiosity of, can I still do that at this age, and how can I immerse myself in the sport of boxing, and how can I transition into that, and is that even possible at this age as you have so many things that are so common to throw kicks and etc. But I think we did quite a good job and I’m going showcase that to the world on Saturday.”
Usyk’s side of the equation is straightforward. He has already beaten Anthony Joshua twice, defeated Tyson Fury, stopped Daniel Dubois, and carried his cruiserweight skill set into heavyweight without losing the feet or timing that made him elite. Verhoeven has to make the first rounds physically awkward before Usyk settles into cleaner entries and exits.
Verhoeven did not promise a knockout. When asked how he wins, he kept the target simple.
“For me, for me, the first objective is to win,” Verhoeven said. “And how we’re going to win, we’ll see. If it’s a knockout, it’s a knockout. If it’s a decision, it’s a decision. So, and if it would come to a decision, and I get the win, wow. Then I faced the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world for years and years and I beat him in 12 rounds and he tried everything and he couldn’t beat me. So that will be like the ultimate.”
Verhoeven has to use size, unfamiliar timing, and kickboxing-shaped habits before the fight becomes a standard boxing assignment. If Usyk controls the rhythm, the gap in boxing experience becomes the whole fight.
