Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven Tips & Predictions

Boxing News Hall of Fame writer Graham Houston weighs up kickboxing king Rico Verhoeven’s chances against Oleksandr Usyk in Egypt on Saturday and provides his best bets and tips.

Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven Tips Preview

In a way, we have Francis Ngannou to thank for the heavyweight title fight between Oleksandr Usyk and kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven that takes place in Giza, Egypt on Saturday.

When UFC great Ngannou knocked down Tyson Fury and almost upset the “Gypsy King” three years ago it gave the impression that an elite competitor from a different combat discipline could compete successfully with a world-class boxer.

Of course, Anthony Joshua subsequently blasted out Ngannou in two rounds. And we also have the example of Floyd Mayweather outclassing Conor McGregor in another match-up between a top-level boxer and an MMA superstar.

But, still, one thinks of Ngannou’s surprising showing against Fury and wonders if Verhoeven, the “King of Kickboxing”, might actually have a chance against Usyk.

I would say Verhoeven’s chances are, as the saying goes, slim and none - and Slim’s left town.

However, money has shown for Verhoeven. Usyk’s opening price of 1/25 had been slashed to 1/18 the last time I looked.

This odds shift reminds me of the 2017 meeting between Mayweather and McGregor. The MMA crowd bet heavily on McGregor. Mayweather was available at around 4/9 by fight-time. It was the steal of the century for boxing bettors.

McGregor lasted into the 10th round but the widely held view is that Mayweather carried Conor - that is to say, didn’t go too hard on him. It’s even been suggested that Mayweather had members of his team place a specific bet on Floyd to win in the 10th round - but that could be apocryphal.

This being said, it’s easy enough to understand why the casual observer might take a plunge on Verhoeven at 10/1 odds.

Verhoeven looks the part. He’s 6ft 5ins tall and weighs around 265 pounds. His kickboxing record as per BoxRec is 54-10 (16 KOs) but the broadcast of his last GLORY kickboxing title fight, in June last year, gave his record going into the bout as 65-10 (21 KOs).

But what’s undisputed is that Verhoeven is unbeaten in GLORY kickboxing for 13 years.

Highlight reels show Verhoeven scoring impressive-looking KOs by means of punches. But kicks are his strong point. And four of Verhoeven's last five wins were by decision.

I watched the video of his last fight, a five-round shutout decision over the much smaller Artem Vakhitov and he never came close to scoring a knockdown.

Verhoeven has been working with British trainer Peter Fury (Tyson’s uncle) on improving his boxing technique. He does have basic boxing skills, including a nifty right uppercut.

However, now Verhoeven finds himself in a boxing match with perhaps the best boxer in the world at any weight.

It’s asking a lot of Verhoeven to expect him even to make a good fight of it, although naturally enough he promises to “shock the world”.

For Usyk (who is making a voluntary defence of his WBC title) this looks like easy money. He’s a truly great fighter.

Verhoeven is taller and heavier but Usyk has beaten huge men such as Daniel Dubois, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury - beaten each of them twice, in fact.

You could say that perhaps age just might catch up with Usyk, who is 39. However, Usyk has shown no sign of slowing down. And Verhoeven isn’t exactly a youngster at 37.

Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven Tale of the Tape

	Oleksandr Usyk	Rico Verhoeven
Record:	24-0 (15 KOs)	1-0 (1 KO)
Age:	39	36
Birthplace:	Simferopol, Ukraine	Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands
Height:	6′ 3″ / 191cm	6' 5″ / 196cm
Stance:	Southpaw	Orthodox
Last Fight:	Won (KO) vs Daniel Dubois (July 2025)	Won (KO) vs Janos Finfera (Apr 2014)
KO%:	62.5%	N/A
Alias:	'The Cat'	'The Prince of Kickboxing'

Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven Top Tips

• Oleksandr Usyk - Between Rounds 1 - 6 @ Evens
• Oleksandr Usyk - By KO/TKO @ 1/4

For boxing bettors, the main interest is not so much if Usyk wins but how he wins.

The KO/TKO proposition is listed as 1/4. That’s a steep admission price, but it looks highly likely that Usyk will win inside the distance.

Artem Vakhitov seemed to hurt him with a body blow in the second round. (Commentator Todd Grisham noted that Verhoeven “didn’t handle it too well”.) And in the third round a right hand moved Verhoeven back.

Commentator Grisham noted that in the last couple of years each of Verhoeven’s fights has had “one scary moment for the champ - some drama somewhere”.

So, for all his size and imposing physicality, Verhoeven has shown vulnerability. Also, he has had just one boxing match, 12 years ago against an opponent with an 0-5 record.

By all logic there should be a huge class-difference in Saturday's meeting.

Usyk has demonstrated that he has the punching power to hurt big men. He has the speed, the angles and the ring IQ to befuddle Verhoeven and break him down with southpaw sharpshooting.

The over/under has been set at 5.5 rounds, with the “over” narrowly favoured at 8/11. If you like the idea of Usyk to win in the first half of the contest, Usyk to win in rounds 1-6 is offered at Evens, while the Ukrainian to prevail in rounds 7-12 is available at 21/10.

Verhoeven’s sheer size and awkwardness should allow him to go some rounds. And we can only guess at Usyk’s mindset.

Will Usyk come out aggressively, looking to hurt Verhoeven? Or will Usyk make it a nice-and-easy boxing match, moving in, moving out and circling around the bigger man, picking up points and not really pushing too hard for a stoppage?

My best guess is that Usyk will take a few rounds to feel Verhoeven out and then start to ratchet up the volume. 

I don’t think Usyk will want to be involved in a tippy-tap 12-rounder that has the fans booing. It seems more likely that Usyk will, at some stage, start to let his hands go.

I’d advise caution when betting this fight, but Usyk in rounds 1-6 is the way I’m leaning. I also think there could be value in Usyk to win by TKO as a specific method of victory, which is priced at 8/11.

The sort of ending I envisage is Verhoeven being overwhelmed by punch-accumulation and the referee or Verhoeven’s corner pulling the plug. 

Also, if Verhoeven goes down and doesn’t look like beating the count, chances are that the referee will simply wave the fight over, and that is usually announced as a TKO (10-count not completed).

All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.