- Rico Verhoeven has confirmed his current walking-around weight is over 125 kilograms — that's around 276 pounds
- Usyk weighed 226 lbs for Joseph Parker — Verhoeven will outweigh him by roughly 50 pounds on the night, possibly more
- May 23 at the Pyramids of Giza for the WBC heavyweight title — Usyk's first major weight-class concession of his pro career
Right Then — Now We Have A Number
Right then. We've spent the entire build-up to Oleksandr Usyk versus Rico Verhoeven talking in vague terms about the size disadvantage Usyk's about to walk into at the Pyramids of Giza on May 23. We can stop being vague now. Verhoeven has confirmed his current weight is over 125 kilograms. That's 276 pounds. Cut a kilo or two for camp and he's still walking into that ring at around 270. Usyk will be coming in at the same 226 he carried to fight Joseph Parker — possibly a little heavier, but not by much, because Usyk doesn't bulk for fights, he refines. That's a forty-five to fifty pound weight gap on fight night. Make no mistake — that's not a heavyweight title fight, that's a cruiserweight versus a super-heavyweight in disguise.
Why The Number Matters
Boxers talk about weight the way mechanics talk about torque. It's not just mass, it's mass moving in a direction. A 270-pound man's jab carries the inertia of a 270-pound shoulder behind it. When that man steps in and pushes you, you can't anchor against him without folding. When he leans on you in a clinch, your ribs bend. When he lands a body shot, his bodyweight rides through your liver before your brain registers the punch. Usyk has fought big men before — Dubois, Joshua, Fury, Parker — but every single one of them was 240-260 on the night. None of them came in north of 275.
Why It Still Doesn't Worry Me
Here's the thing — bodyweight is only useful if you can use it. Verhoeven's 125kg is kickboxing weight, not boxing weight. In Glory Kickboxing he can lean on opponents, throw kicks, knee, elbow, and the weight is part of the toolkit. In a boxing ring, with eight-ounce gloves and no clinches that last more than half a second, the weight stops being a weapon and starts being a liability. He'll feel it in his legs by round four. He'll feel it in his lungs by round six. By round eight he'll be the heaviest, slowest target Usyk has ever boxed. That's not a recipe for a Verhoeven win — that's a recipe for the most one-sided heavyweight title fight of the year.
What Usyk Will Do With It
Usyk doesn't try to outpunch big men, he outsmarts them. The blueprint hasn't changed in fifteen pro fights — feint, lateral movement, double jab, pivot, body shot, exit. Verhoeven is a stationary target on his best night. Watch the first three rounds of Usyk-Joshua I if you want the footnote. Watch the entire Parker fight in February if you want the masterclass. Verhoeven will be moving even less than those two did. Usyk will be carving lines on him with the jab from the opening bell.
The Actual Risk
The only realistic Verhoeven win is the early one. If he can land one clean shot in rounds one through three before Usyk's read on the timing is set, the weight advantage means Usyk wears it harder than any single shot he's ever taken in pro boxing. That's the kickboxer's hope. But Usyk has not been buzzed cleanly since the back end of his amateur career, and Verhoeven has never thrown a punch with eight-ounce gloves under championship rules. The chances of him clipping Usyk in the opening rounds are about the same as Usyk clipping Verhoeven in the same rounds — and that's all you need to know about the price the bookies have on this.
Luke's Pick
Usyk by stoppage between rounds eight and ten. Verhoeven's chin is fine — he's been a kickboxing champion for a decade and he doesn't go over easy. But the body work Usyk lays down across the first half of the fight will catch up with the lungs of a man carrying that much extra weight. The ref steps in around the eighth or ninth, Verhoeven on his feet but unable to defend himself, and we move on to Fury-Joshua in the autumn. Pick: Usyk TKO 9. Brilliant night for the sport, brilliant night for the Pyramids. Verhoeven goes home with the experience, Usyk goes home with another fortune to add to the legacy.