Rico Verhoeven came in lighter than expected for his heavyweight title fight with Oleksandr Usyk, but still held a major size advantage at Friday’s weigh-in in Giza. Usyk weighed 233.3 pounds for the defense of his WBC, WBA and Ring heavyweight titles, while Verhoeven came in at 258.7 pounds, giving the Dutch kickboxing champion a 25.4-pound edge.
Verhoeven usually competes around 260 to 265 pounds in kickboxing, so the 258.7 mark was not a dramatic cut. He was, however, around seven pounds lighter than his last kickboxing bout against Artem Vakhitov in 2025. Usyk, meanwhile, looked heavier than usual during fight week and weighed six pounds more than he did for his rematch with Daniel Dubois.
Normally, a heavyweight champion giving away more than 25 pounds would be one of the biggest talking points before a title fight. But the mood around Usyk vs. Verhoeven has been different. Much of the build-up has centered on the setting at the Pyramids of Giza, the crossover spectacle, celebrity attention and Usyk’s appearance rather than a real belief that Verhoeven will seriously trouble him.
Usyk remains the overwhelming favorite despite the size gap. He has already dealt with bigger heavyweights such as Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, and most observers still see his boxing skill, movement and experience as too much for Verhoeven, who has only one professional boxing fight.
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Image Credit: Matchroom Boxing