This weekend, Oleksandr Usyk is tasked with Dutch kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven in a controversial defence of his WBC heavyweight world title. Now, UFC heavyweight champion and longtime sparring partner of Verhoeven, Tom Aspinall, has offered his thoughts on the contest.
Verhoeven possesses a record of just 1-0 in professional boxing, with that solitary outing coming 12 years ago against an opponent that had lost all five of his prior contests. Yet, after a stellar kickboxing career, the man from the Netherlands has been permitted to challenge for the WBC heavyweight world title.
If the ‘King of Kickboxing’ manages to pull off the upset, he will become the most inexperienced male world champion in boxing history, trumping the three-bout records of Saensak Muangsurin and Vasyl Lomachenko.
Speaking on the Fight Your Corner podcast, Aspinall admitted that it is not the most likely outcome.
“I have been sparring Rico for 10 years so I know him well, I am lucky enough to say that he is a friend of mine, as well. He is a super, super good guy.
“I think that anybody has got a chance, but I think that Usyk is another level. Just because Rico is my friend doesn’t mean that I am going to sit here on a podcast and lie about it, he is up against it.”
However, the MMA star refused to completely rule out the possibility of a seismic upset, believing that Verhoeven’s movement could be an issue for the undefeated Ukrainian.
“I think that anybody can win in combat sports, I think that everybody has got a chance. Rico is a big human being, he might cause Usyk some problems with his movement because they [kickboxers] move different.”
Usyk-Verhoeven takes place on Saturday night at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, topping a bill that features three other world title bouts.
Whilst Usyk’s WBC belt is on the line, the IBF and WBA have taken different stances. If he loses, he will be stripped, but the unranked Verhoeven will not walk away with the belts, which will instead be declared vacant.