Oleksandr Usyk retained his unified heavyweight titles against Rico Verhoeven towards the end of last month, and now the champion has been ordered to enter negotiations for his next defence.
Usyk met a tougher-than-expected challenge in Verhoeven, who had just one previous professional boxing bout during an exemplary kickboxing career.
The Dutchman looked comfortable in the ring against a modern-day great in Usyk, disrupting his rhythm and building a lead on one official scorecard going into the penultimate round. With the threat of losing his belts, the Ukrainian turned up the heat and scored a knockdown. Though Verhoeven made it back to his feet to fight on, referee Mark Lyson controversially stepped in following a barrage of shots from the champion to end the contest.
Speaking to Boxing Scene on June 1, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed on June 1 that the fight was being ordered that day.
“Yes. The WBC ruling was one voluntary defence and then the winner against Kabayel. That fight is being ordered today, and it is a mandatory defence for Usyk.”
Though Kabayel has earned his shot with top wins over Frank Sanchez, Arslanbek Makhmudov and Zhilei Zhang, the German remains unconvinced that Usyk will agree to the fight, believing instead that he will be either elevated or fight for the vacant belt.
The match-up would do good business in Germany, where Kabayel has proven his drawing power; however, whether or not it is big enough for the Ukrainian is the question – his team recently said that if he fights again at 39 years old, it will only be in a ‘major event.’