©picture alliance / BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Orangepictures | BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Orangepictures
37-year-old Rico Verhoeven is fighting the fight of his life on Saturday night. The Dutch heavyweight in kickboxing will crawl into the ring against the undefeated world boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk (39) from Ukraine. The stakes are huge: the world title in boxing.
On Tuesday, the two bantams were already face to face in front of the pyramids in Egypt. Saturday's legendary duel, which starts at 10 p.m. Dutch time, is called "Glory in Giza". Twelve three-minute rounds will be boxed, literally between the pyramids.
Rico Verhoeven was undefeated for as many as 4,418 days in kickboxing at Glory. The Dutchman was looking for a new challenge and found it with undefeated world boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk. The peers (Verhoeven is 37 and the Ukrainian is 39) will fight under the rules of boxing and not kickboxing.
For more than a dozen years Verhoeven was world champion and so now "The King of Kickboxing" is venturing into the boxing world. While Verhoeven is undefeated world champion in kickboxing, his opponent is in boxing. Oleksandr Usyk has already fought 24 matches and has not yet lost.
Betting firms already see little chance for the Dutchman. Still, Verhoeven will do everything in his power to capture one of the Ukrainian's four belts. After all, on Saturday, Usyk and Verhoeven are fighting for the world heavyweight title of the World Boxing Council (WBC), one of the four major boxing federations in addition to the WBA, WBO and IBF.
The fights will kick off Saturday night from 7 p.m. Dutch time in the shadow of the pyramids of Giza. Verhoeven's fight is expected at around 10 p.m. Here is the full fight card.
Oleksandr Usyk - Rico Verhoeven || WBC heavyweight title
Hamzah Sheeraz - Alem Begic || WBO super middleweight title
Jack Catterall - Shakhram Giyasov || Welterweight
Frank Sanchez - Richard Torrez Jr || Heavyweight
Mizuki Hiruta - Mai Soliman || WBO super flyweight title
Basem Mamdouh - Jamar Talley || Cruiserweight
Mahmoud Mobark - Michael Kalyalya || Middleweight
©picture alliance / BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Orangepictures | BEAUTIFUL SPORTS/Orangepictures - Photo of Rico Verhoeven during a fight in 2021