Usyk's Gandia Camp Is Already Humming — Heat Prep For Giza Up Next

• Usyk's camp for Verhoeven has been based out of Gandia on Spain's Mediterranean coast — same setup the Ukrainian used for both Fury fights
• The champion has reportedly stretched his daily run from ten kilometres to eleven and added load across the rest of the camp — there is no easing off at thirty-nine
• Egypt's heat and low humidity are the next box on the list — both camps are expected on the ground in Giza early to acclimatise before May 23

Right Then — The Gandia Routine

Right then. While everyone else is screaming about Fury versus Joshua and Wembley wobbling and Dua Lipa walking, the man who actually holds the WBC heavyweight title is doing what he always does — head down, training camp humming, no noise. Oleksandr Usyk set up shop in Gandia on the Spanish coast weeks ago and the early reports out of camp are exactly what you'd expect from a fighter who has not lost a round of any consequence in years.

The Numbers Are Going Up, Not Down

Make no mistake. This is the bit a lot of fighters get wrong as they get older — the assumption that experience lets you do less. Usyk has gone the other way. The same camp that prepped him for both Fury wins is being cranked up another notch for Rico Verhoeven, with the daily run reportedly bumped from ten kilometres to eleven and load added across the strength and conditioning sessions. That's not a fighter coasting. That's a fighter who has decided that taking on a 125kg kickboxing legend with twelve world heavyweight kickboxing title defences is a proper test that demands proper prep.

Why Gandia, Why Again?

Gandia gives Usyk three things he likes: privacy, sea-level cardio with hilly running terrain just inland, and a climate that is warm without being brutal. He used the same setup ahead of the first Fury fight in May 2024 and again before the rematch. Camps that work do not get changed for the sake of it. Egor Krutko, the long-time strength and conditioning coach, has reportedly been on the ground from day one, which tells you everything about how seriously this is being taken behind the scenes.

The Egypt Variable

Here is where it gets interesting. Giza on May 23 means desert evening boxing. Even with a late ringwalk, the heat sticks around longer than fighters who have only trained in mild European spring conditions appreciate. Low humidity dehydrates a working heavyweight quicker than they realise, and recovery between rounds becomes a different conversation when the air is thirty-degrees and dry as bone. That is why both camps are expected to be on the ground in Egypt earlier than usual. Usyk has reportedly built a heat-acclimatisation block into the back end of camp — sauna work, hot-room conditioning, eventually a move out to Cairo to finish prep on local time and local climate. Verhoeven's side know it too. The Dutch giant has spent his whole kickboxing career in air-conditioned arenas. This is going to feel different.

What It All Means

Let's not beat around the bush. Usyk is doing the work, and that should worry Verhoeven's team more than anything anyone has said in a press conference. The Dutchman is a brilliant kickboxer. Twelve consecutive Glory heavyweight title defences. A frame the size of a small car. He is also crossing into a sport where the elite-level conditioning numbers are in a different postcode to the ones he is used to. When Usyk steps through the ropes in Giza, he will have the heat handled, the cardio at championship level, and the tactical work done with a team that has already cracked Fury twice and Joshua twice before that. That is not the platform you want to walk into for a debut at world heavyweight title level.

The Prediction

Brilliant though Verhoeven is in his own sport, this camp tells you everything you need to know about the fight. Usyk by mid-rounds stoppage. Around the seventh, after the heat starts cooking the bigger man and the championship rounds in this format become a chasm Verhoeven has never navigated. Levels above. If you know, you know.