Frank Warren threatens the WBC with legal action.
Throughout history, it is not an unheard-of thing for boxers–especially heavyweights–to engage in novelty bouts that are nowhere near competitive affairs on paper.
Just in the past few years, both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have fought former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, the former being a far closer contest than anticipated.
Muhammad Ali quite famously engaged in exhibitions at various stages of his career, most notably against Japanese wrestler and MMA fighter Antonio Inoki.
However, Oleksandr Usyk’s upcoming contest against kickboxer Rico Verhoeven has a different flavour to it, mostly because it is a professional fight being sanctioned for the legitimate WBC heavyweight championship.
In this way, it is less like the aforementioned examples and more comparable to Floyd Patterson’s 1957 title defence against Pete Rademacher.
Rademacher, though a winner of a gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics, was a professional debutant and was fighting one of the best heavyweights of all time. Unsurprisingly, he lost, but he actually managed to drop Patterson before being stopped himself.
Verhoeven, however, is not a former Olympic gold medallist, nor is he even an experienced boxer. In fact, his only professional boxing experience exists as a single 2014 contest against the 0-5 (1) Janos Finfera.
So, while Usyk-Verhoeven arrives upon the WBC granting Usyk a voluntary defence, it is still an eyebrow-raising fight. However, many people’s concerns have been quelled with the knowledge that the WBC have stated Usyk will have to defend against mandatory challenger Agit Kabayel afterwards.
For his part, Usyk has been unclear on whether he will fight Kabayel next, but refusal to do so will likely result in Usyk being stripped of his WBC title.
Kabayel fights under Queensberry Promotions, and Queensberry boss Frank Warren has now stated to BoxingScene that he will be taking legal action against the WBC should they not order Usyk to fight Kabayel following the Verhoeven spectacle.
Not mincing his words, Warren declared, “Kabayel’s number one in the WBC, and the fight goes on in Egypt between Usyk and Rico Verhoeven. And afterwards, the WBC will have to order the mandatory. And if they don’t, we will sue them.”
“I’m telling you, I’m not going to p*ss around with this”, continued Warren. “Agit deserves his opportunity. He should be in there, and if anyone tries to duck that fight, then he’ll have to vacate. It’s as simple as that; fight Agit or vacate.”
Kabayel holds the WBC interim title, and with wins over Arslanbek Makhmudov, Frank Sanchez, and Zhilei Zhang, he is considered by most to be Usyk’s most deserving challenger.
It is unknown when the unbeaten German will next appear in the ring, but many view him as the biggest threat to the formidable Ukrainian.
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