Oleksandr Usyk’s WBC title defense is in doubt despite the initial fight announcement

Oleksandr Usyk’s fight with Rico Verhoeven may not be a WBC title defense, despite initial announcement to the contrary.

In July 2025 the depaw was in Ukraine fighting against Daniel Dubois, where he became undisputed in the top division of boxing for the second time. Instead of facing his WBO mandatory challenger, Fabio Wardleynext, Usyk chose to vacate that belt.

He currently holds the WBC, WBA and IBF, but only WBC was mentioned when his fight with Verhoeven – to take place at the Pyramids of Giza on May 23 – it was made official this week.

However, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman, who has been under fire since the announcement, has now said Chris Mannix that the fight will be a WBC “special event” and that the belt on the line will be a commemorative sign. He says there was no request for him to be a heavyweight title defense and sanctioned.

“WBC fully supports this cross-over fight … (we will) create an unbelievable belt containing the elements of the Egyptian Pyramids. WBC supported Fury vs Ngannou which turned out to be very competitive and we have full respect for Rico as a legendary kickboxing heavyweight champion.

Usyk was granted voluntary protection months ago on the condition that he would next face mandatory challenger and interim champion Agit Kabayel. But volunteers should come up against someone who is in the top 15 – something Verhoeven, who has had one professional boxing match, cannot boast.

The Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou fight provides a recent precedent, where the WBC title was not placed on the line. At the time, Fury held the WBC title, but the sanctioning body allowed ‘The Gypsy King’ to have that fight without the belt on the line, allowing him to move into an undisputed showdown with Usyk.

Verhoeven’s fight has generally been received by mixed reviews, with many feeling that the Ukrainian road warrior has earned the right for big money crossover bouts at this stage of his campaign. Others, however, would prefer that the world titles not be held up to make it happen. What the IBF and WBA decide to do remains unclear, with Usyk losing both of those belts a real possibility.