“The King of Kickboxing” will aim to dethrone the current heavyweight boxing king as {Rico Verhoeven} challenges Oleksandr Usyk for the WBC boxing crown. The event will take place at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt on May 23rd, with the extraordinary historical backdrop linking the modern and ancient world together forever.
Former GLORY Heavyweight Champion Verhoeven may only have a 1-0 record in professional boxing, but he sports a 66-10 professional kickboxing record and an over ten-year undefeated streak.
Usyk is a boxing virtuoso, with an Olympic gold medal to go alongside his sparkling 335-15 amateur boxing record, he also unified the Heavyweight title on two occasions most recently when he knocked out Daniel Dubois at Wembley last July.
There was much speculation as to Verhoeven’s next move after leaving GLORY, with reported bouts against the UFC’s Derrick Lewis and the PFL’s Francis Ngannou both falling through.
Verhoeven’s decision to challenge on of the great boxers of his time is steeped in history.
Conor McGregor popularised the decision when he challenged Floyd Mayweather for the modern day “Money Fight” but before him Muhammad Ali welcomed Antonio Inoki to the ring back in 1976, playing out a draw to the 14,500 in attendance on that historical Tokyo evening.
Source: beyondkick.com