Rico Verhoeven vs Oleksandr Usyk official for WBC Heavyweight Championship — May 23 in Egypt (DAZN)

Seems common sense! And he's trained by Peter Fury.

 

Rico is not as powerful as Ngannou, but he's a way more technically proficient pugilist and kickboxer.

I'd rather see Usyk face Kabayel or Wardley too, but people are acting like it's complete mismatch... Maybe it is, but Rico's not a bum.

 

No he didn’t. Floyd is a cautious fighter with hand problems who takes his time to judge his opponents. This allowed Mcgregor to land a few shots. Mcgregor was also slapping with a lot of those punches because he knew that loading up would lead to him getting countered badly.

by no means did Mcgregor school Floyd. Other than one half decent uppercut, everything he landed were slappy punches with nothing on them.

i am a fan of Usyk. Picked him to beat Joshua and Fury. Have cheered for him for a long time. But folks are grasping at straws to justify this match up.

it does not matter if Allen or Peter Fury claim Rico is a damn good boxer. If he is such a good boxer, let him fight just one legit top 15 ranked heavyweight like a Sanchez or Torres Jr. just one. If he can win such a fight, then by all means let him fight Usyk.

i criticized Fury for fighting Nnganou so why should Usyk be exempt? Usyk needed to contractually rematch Joshua and Fury but he did not have a contractual obligation to rematch Dubois.

Even after the Dubois rematch, he was going on about rematching Chisora, Fury and Joshua. Why? Why should this not be worthy of criticism?

if you want to build a great heavyweight resume, you need variety. Why even mention a third Fury fight or a third Joshua fight? Why try to make a fight vs WIlder rather than Wardley? And now this?

Usyk is the best heavyweight of his era regardless of what happens from now. But these antics are worth criticizing.

 

The only thing this fight has shown me is that Usyk has developed a genuine cult. There is nothing he could do where somebody won't come out to defend it. He's fighting a kickboxer who has had 1 pro fight against a journeyman. Nobody who is an active unified champion of any division should be fighting anyone out of the top 30. Honestly, I'd say the top 15, but at most the top 30. Especially if you want to talk about "warm-up fights" - Jake Paul, Mark De Mori, and Johnny Fisher would be more worthy alternatives. There are fighters in the top 10 who have worked for decades to get a shot at the coveted WBC belt, and it is a complete slap in the face to them.

 

But this is not a warm-up fight, it's purportedly (even though the WBC seem to have retracted their support?) some sort of title fight.

The main reason why this is happening is because Turki wants it. Turki and the saudis would not be emptying out buckets of cash for a festive event among the pyramids of Giza, if they weren't eager to make this fight.

 

His first non-unification, mandatory, contractual rematch in years. And the only guy he now owes a fight to will get one before the year is up.

We are not a "cult" because we are not losing our heads over a bit of fun.

 

According to the WBC, Usyk has to fight Kabayel next, and its possible that they will actually enforce it. If Usyk vacates then Kabayel gets elevated to champion.
The current WBC top 10:
1 Lawrence Okolie
2 Daniel Dubois
3 Anthony Joshua
4 Moses Itauma
5 Filip Hrgovic
6 Efe Ajagba
7 Martin Bakole
8 Richard Torrez Jr.
9 Frank Sanchez
10 Zhilei Zhang

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I have criticized Fury far more than I have ever criticized Usyk and I was delighted to see Usyk batter Fury.

the whole “he is 39” makes no sense. He has had 24 prp contests over the course of 12 years. While he had a lengthy amateur career, he does not have the same wear and tear that former more active champions did. Guys who were world champions in their early or mid 20s are going to be much more worn out by that age than a guy who became a champ at 30 and fights once a year , on average.

the criticism isn’t just about Rico. It’s about rematching Dubois even though Dubois was the one who pulled out of fighting Parker.

even after beating Dubois in the rematch, he starts calling Fury and Joshua, two guys he has beaten twice each. And then calls out Chisora and Wilder. This is unjust.


The whole “he deserves an easy fight” is for guys who defend 2-3 times a year. Not for a once defence a year guy. It shows the division down.

 

Utterly pathetic choice of fight by Uysk!! Anyone claiming to justify this 'fight' needs to give their heads a wobble

 

This.

 

Once again, Turki wanted this fight and Turki and the Saudis are paying big bucks for it too. Not only is Usyk getting a big paycheck, it's also a historically unique combat sports event among the PYRAMIDS OF GIZA.

No matter what you think about the match-up, Usyk would be mad to reject this offer.