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

If the WBC withdraw their support, is it still a voluntary?

Does this become an extra fight?

 

Oof
Well there are plus sides and down sides to this.

One the one hand, in theory, i.e. unless he turns round and drops his belt or tries to fight the winner of Dubois v Wardley, Kabayel will get his overdue title shot.

On the other hand, after coming off arguably his best performance in Dubois 2 and a 10-month break, he is defending the WBC title against someone not in their top 15 (their typical rule for voluntaries), with a 1-0 record.

Sadly, Usyk may have just lowered the bar for title defences by facing a kick-boxer when there are a backlog of contenders waiting their turn

 

What backlog? The only guy in boxing right now that can have any beef with Usyk's decisions whatsoever is Kabayel. And Kabayel should have a much bigger gripe with the sanctioning body he has been paying fees to and is currently the interim champ for, the WBC. They're the one who sanctioned this voluntary.

Usyk gave up his WBO belt to Wardley. He's been granted a voluntary. Then he's been told he has to fight Kabayel next. Either he fights Kabayel or gives up another belt. Any which way, he isn't holding the division up.

While you're all crying and gnashing your teeth over this, Wardley is now champ and he's got a big time fight against Dubois and Kabayel filled out a stadium in Germany versus a nobody and has another fight scheduled already. Nobody is starving and going broke because Usyk is taking a one-off.

 

Well the WBC tied their own hands on that one. They granted him a voluntary defence before facing Kabayel. Unfortunately, Usyk went off list and selected a non-boxer for his world title defence and scheduled it for 10 months after Dubois. lol

It highly disappointing. At least with the Ali-Inoki farce it was a mixed rules exhibition, with Ali staying extremely active before and after that fight.

Usyk saw the **** Fury took for scheduling the Ngannou fight (saw the bag), and said hold my beer.

As above, Usyk is "officially" lowering the bar with this one

 

Usyk owes a fight to anyone who positions themselves as a mandatory; it's a conveyor belt of regular challengers until you either **** or get off the pot. If he wants to fight Rico, I've got no problem with that, but don't hold the entire division up for a circus event. The fact that the belt is on the line is yet another embarrassing moment that brings the sport's legitimacy into disrepute.

A kickboxer with 1 fight has absolutely zero business challenging for the world heavyweight boxing championship. No fighter is bigger than the sport, especially not Usyk. If Usyk wanted to play in the Super Bowl, they would rightly tell him to go away because he has no business at the top end of a sport he has no top-level experience in, and it's what the WBC should say to Rico, too.

 

A lot of wasted words for nothing. WBC said it is normal for a champion to have a voluntary, and granted this. Kaybayel is next. No one has been harmed. No one has been denied anything due.

 

A voluntary against a professional boxer in the top 25/30, sure. Not a kickboxer. If any other champion in the sport chooses to fight a novice with 1 fight as a title defense, they'd get absolutely ripped to shreds and rightly so. Why is Usyk infallible when it comes to any legitimate criticism? Nobody has been harmed, but boxing has. It's not a surprise that so many casual fans see the sport as a bigger and bigger joke every year when the P4P best are picking fights like this.

 

Guy...nobody has been wronged, period. Kabayel is getting his shot this year, against Usyk or he'll have the title bestowed on him. You are talking about YOUR expectations. You are welcome to them. Don't make the mistake that you are speaking for everyone, or even Kabayel, who has said he is good with the WBC ruling.

That is all.

 

This is why no one takes you seriously. You say some silly nonsense, then when you get called on it you move the goalposts.

You said Usyk lowered the bar (whatever the hell that means in a sport that has been corrupt and silly for damn near 100 years) by creating a backlog at HW. There is no backlog. The only guy waiting is Kabayel. No one else at HW has any argument whatsoever to have a fight versus Usyk. Kabayel is getting fights, making money, and he's been guaranteed a fight with Usyk after this voluntary. Either that or he's the future WBC champ.

It's funny how you slave minded boot lickers always blame the wrong people. Usyk has done nothing wrong here. He is a prize fighter and his job is to maximize his earning potential while plying his skills. He's stuck working inside the ****ed up framework of boxing just like all the other guys. Up until this point, despite your nonsensical trolling threads trying to say otherwise, he's been flawless. In fact, he's the only boxer in the history of the sport to win all his titles on the road. There hasn't been a more stand-up, do-right dude in arguably the history of the sport.

The money men are jockeying for control and creating a giant rift in the sport. This makes an already tough matchmaking environment exponentially worse. Ignoring that fact makes your entire argument disingenuous. Usyk was trying to make a fight against a legitimate boxer happen for months before having to settle for what Turki wanted with this kickboxer. Ignoring the fact that makes your argument disingenuous. Claiming Usyk is lowering the bar and worse than Fury, a guy who took a THIRD FIGHT with a non-Top 10 fighter he'd already beaten twice and THEN took a fight with a complete novice boxer makes your argument disingenuous. Verhoeven is actually a semi-legitimate boxer as it's part of his sport, he's trained it extensively with Peter Fury while sparring guys like Tyson Fury AND he's had a boxing match before, unlike Ngannou. Bringing up Ali's exhibition fights from over 50 ****ing years ago as if that has any bearing or relation to modern boxing and the situation the sport is in currently makes your argument disingenuous.

The only one lowering the bar is you lowering the bar on boxing discourse in this forum and, by extension, our collective IQs.

 

The casual fans tune in by the tens of millions to watch Tyson v. Paul or AJ v. Paul or for a couple of YouTubers to fight each other. I guarantee you they don't think anything about the sport one way or another.

 

Problem is, Usyk only fights once a year...

 

While I do enjoy the off-hand insults, lets discuss this a little.

Unfortunately, you seem to be lost in the promotional leverage approach to boxing (I too can be guilty of this) rather than being able to grasp why many fans of boxing are irritated by Usyk taking such a fight.

And yet again there is the implication from you that Usyk has no autonomy.
Turki, Wbc, Usyk. All three are to blame here. Let's clear that one up for you first.

Now, ignoring the fact Fury held one belt and had dealt with Whyte (his mandatory), and had actually already signed to fight Usyk, Usyk is obviously lowering the bar further than Fury.

That's the problem here, most of us have the sense to understand that fighting this particular kick-boxer for the WBC world title is a lowering of the bar and bad for the sport. Some might go so far as to say it is bring the sport into disrepute.

Now lets make something else clear, both Ngannou and Verhoeven fights are a bad joke, and neither should be used to excuse the other. That is fan boy whataboutism.

However, lets explore them a little. Ngannou (whilst he should never have shared the ring with Fury) was a far more dangerous opponent than Verhoeven. This is because Ngannou at least had routes to victory which Rico just doesn't have.

Ngannou was known for his chin, his size, and the power in his hands. All three troubled Fury.

Rico has size, but doesn't have the same power or chin. He has great legs, but obviously can't kick Usyk.
Usyk won't be bothered by his size, he wont be troubled by his defence, movement, or hands, and Rico certainly won't have the engine to go the full 12 at the pace Usyk sets.

There are just no routes for victory. This should be an exhbition at worst, and mixed rules at best.

Being for the WBC title ahead of so many actual boxers makes it even more of a travesty for the sport.

But, of course, I expect that none of this is Usyk's fault.

 

Exactly, and that's the thing isn't it.

If he was more active, and fighting opponents on the ladder regularly rather than the same chosen few, most would accept this fight for what it is.

Oh well...it is what it is, I guess. Feels like 23 pages of bickering, and this one might have been done to death. Haha

Hopefully he fights Kabayel after. I'll watch this one on youtube at some point no doubt

 

I've seen people calling Rico "pillowfisted" but I don't think that's really fair. Kickboxing bouts usually consist of only 2-5 rounds, with some having only 2-minute rounds instead of 3.

It's important to consider the context, imo.