{"id":18801,"date":"2026-02-27T19:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T19:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/2026\/02\/27\/oleksandr-usyk-vs-rico-verhoeven-wbc-title-fight-booked-for-may-23\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T19:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T19:20:00","slug":"oleksandr-usyk-vs-rico-verhoeven-wbc-title-fight-booked-for-may-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/2026\/02\/27\/oleksandr-usyk-vs-rico-verhoeven-wbc-title-fight-booked-for-may-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk vs. Rico Verhoeven WBC title fight booked for May 23"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Oleksandr Usyk is scheduled to defend his WBC heavyweight title against former GLORY kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven on May 23 in the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt. Their \u201cGlory in Giza\u201d boxing showdown will be streamed exclusively on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI spent 12 years as the undisputed heavyweight kickboxing champion and achieved everything I set out to achieve,\u201d Verhoeven, 36, said in today\u2019s announcement. "But being at the top for so long didn’t make me hungry. On the contrary, it made me stronger. Usyk is the undisputed fighter in boxing. That was the challenge that motivated me: the indisputable versus the indisputable.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Fans criticized their matchmaking on social media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI have real respect for people who have reached the highest level of their sport,\u201d Usyk, 39, added. \u201cRico is one of them. A strong athlete and a great champion. Being a champion is not just about the belt.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oleksandr Usyk is scheduled to defend his WBC heavyweight title against former GLORY kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven on May 23 in the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt. Their \u201cGlory in Giza\u201d boxing showdown will be streamed exclusively on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV). \u201cI spent 12 years as the undisputed heavyweight kickboxing champion and achieved everything I set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[47804,47442],"tags":[47803,47437],"class_list":["post-18801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news-results","category-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-boxing-news-and-results","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}