After careful consideration, the WBC has decided to sanction the heavyweight crossover fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Rico Verhoeven.
Oleksandr Usyk hasn’t competed inside the boxing ring since last July when he knocked out Daniel Dubois in their undisputed heavyweight title rematch.
After having achieved everything there is to achieve in the sport, the Ukrainian appeared to be teetering towards retirement, before targeting a fight against Deontay Wilder.
Despite that, the 39-year-old was approached with a mega crossover fight by Turki Alalshikh, and it was announced a few days ago that he will take on legendary kickboxer, Rico Verhoeven in a huge crossover.
WBC release statement on Usyk vs Verhoeven
The super fight is scheduled to take place in front of the Pyramids of Giza on May 23, in what is set to be one of the biggest fights of the year.
Initially, WBC president, Mauricio Sulaiman, stated that the WBC fully supports the clash, but claimed that it wouldn’t be for the WBC world title.
“We will create an unbelievable belt featuring the elements of Pyramids of Egypt,” he told Sports Illustrated.
“At this moment there has not been discussion of a request to be a title defense and just a special event involving the WBC heavyweight champion.”
Despite that, in a statement released this Sunday afternoon, the WBC have completed a U-turn regarding their stance on the fight, revealing that the WBC world heavyweight title will now be on the line.
“After careful consideration, the WBC Board of Governors has ruled in favor of sanctioning WBC World Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk’s voluntary title defense against legendary kickboxing champion, Rico Verhoeven.
“At its 63rd Annual Convention in Bangkok, Thailand, the WBC granted Champion Usyk a voluntary defense. Subsequently, the WBC received the petition to sanction Usyk vs Verhoeven fight as a voluntary defense.”
The WBC didn’t sanction Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou
The WBC’s decision to in fact sanction this mega crossover fight as a title fight potentially comes after a competitive clash between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou in 2023.
In his statement to Sports Illustrated, Sulaiman touched on the fact that the WBC supported Fury vs Ngannou, which turned out to be ‘very competitive’.
Despite that, when those two heavyweights clashed, Fury’s WBC title was not on the line.