How Anthony Joshua ‘tragedy’ set up shock Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven fight

Rico Verhoeven has opened up on how the “tragedy” of Anthony Joshua’s car crash set up his unexpected title shot against Oleksandr Usyk.

Late last year, kickboxing icon Verhoeven was linked to a 2026 boxing match with Joshua, but 10 days after “AJ” knocked out YouTuber Jake Paul, the Briton was injured in a fatal car crash.

That accident in Nigeria claimed the lives of two of Joshua’s teammates, leaving the former world heavyweight champion’s boxing future up in the air. And while Joshua has since returned to the gym, it wasn’t long before Verhoeven agreed to a different fight.

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That fight, remarkably, will take place at the pyramids of Giza on 23 May, as the Dutchman challenges Usyk for the WBC heavyweight title.

Tuesday brought a press conference between Usyk, 39, and Verhoeven, 36, in London, where the latter spoke to The Independent and other publications.

“The [Joshua] fight was… it was gonna happen,” Verhoeven insisted. “The fight was there, only the tragic accident happened, so that’s what derailed everything.

“And logically, yeah, AJ needed some time to just resettle, get back to himself, and that was that.

“We didn’t have like… a straight new opponent, so from there on, we talked about with the team: ‘Who’s out there? ‘I said: ‘What about Usyk? Like, that makes sense. Undisputed [in kickboxing] versus undisputed [in boxing].’ So, that’s what happened.

“Why do I deserve it? I don’t think it’s up to me to think if I deserve something. I think for me, I put it out there, like: ‘How cool would it be if those two worlds collide?’ The promoter was like, ‘That’s a great idea. We love that.’ And then they put the belt up for the fight. I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s even better.’

“I understand that for the people that are not into the kickboxing game, they do not know my credentials, but the WBC, they also have like a Muay Thai kickboxing department. So for them, it did make sense. Like, ‘Hey, he’s one of the greatest, if not the greatest kickboxer of all time. So, he has his credentials, so a real title shot makes sense.’”

For the fight in Egypt, Verhoeven has been training with his longtime boxing coach Peter Fury – uncle of British boxing star Tyson Fury – and the Dutchman said of his preparations: “Well, the cool thing is, something that’s not broken, you don’t have to fix. He gave me the fundamentals, and working with Peter [made me] such a dominant [champion] in kickboxing.”

Recalling past sparring sessions with Tyson Fury, Verhoeven said: “It’s been a long time, but I learned a lot from that, [to] keep working, working, working, working, working, working, beating up the cracks. That’s the only thing, that’s how you get better.”

At the press conference itself, Verhoeven claimed that Hollywood actor Jason Statham – an acquaintance of Saudi boxing matchmaker Turki Alalshikh – was “one of the people who initiated this opportunity”.

Meanwhile, Peter Fury said Verhoeven “was offered a lot more money in other sports” before taking the Usyk fight.

Ukraine’s Usyk said of his decision to take a voluntary title defence against Verhoeven: “One time, I wanna do what I want, not what’s needed, because a lot of the time, I do what other people need. ‘You have to box like this.’ I say: ‘Ok, ok, ok.’ Now, I do what I need.”

Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk bring out the best in each other

Oleksandr Usyk and Eddie Hearn report on Anthony Joshua’s training

Oleksandr Usyk reports that Anthony Joshua is physically and mentally good

Former two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has been spending time with reigning unified world champ Oleksandr Usyk and his team in Ukraine.

39-year-old Usyk provided fans with an update on Joshua’s progress, including a warning that came from the doctor.

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Usyk reported: “I think he’s getting better from what I see, Anthony is training well, but the doctor says, ‘please, take it slowly, not too fast yet. Take your time’.

“So physically he’s good, but he needs more time to fully heal.

“Mentally, I think he’s good too, because we talk every day. We train twice a day, morning and evening, and we’re always talking constantly.

“I tell him, he can talk to me when he needs to. Listen, I know Anthony, he’s a champion. Yes, right now he doesn’t have the belts, but for me that doesn’t matter.

“A champion is not always the one who has the belts.

“A champion is a man who lives right, who works, who looks to the future and says, ‘yes, I can. I will work and never give up’.”

Just days after Christmas, AJ was involved in a fatal car collision while on holiday in Nigeria following his Jake Paul victory.

The car he was travelling in collided with a stationary vehicle on a notoriously dangerous road in Lagos and two of his closest friends – Sina Ghani and Abdul Lateef – were tragically killed.

Their funeral was held in London on January 4 and the grieving boxer has been in mourning since.

His trip to the Ukraine with Usyk is evidence of his ambitions to continue in his career, and fight fans are keen to hear an announcement on his fight plans soon. Long-term promoter Eddie Hearn has now joined Joshua in training and has been providing updates also.

“He’s had a great few days. That’s how long he’s been in camp, and no decisions yet about when a return will be,” Hearn told BoxingScene. “I think July is a sensible month to target. We’ve still got to get some clearance from some doctors on his development, but he feels good. I spoke to Joshua last night, and this morning he said, ‘I’ve had a great week. I feel amazing.’ That was his words: ‘I feel amazing.’

“So it’s brilliant to see him. It’s really his happy place being in camp. Really shouldn’t be, because if you see how hard they work out there, it shouldn’t be anyone’s happy place, but that’s just how they are as fighters. I think he’s really happy to be back in that routine, and we’ll start planning his next fight very soon.”

Anthony Joshua’s unexpected friendship with Usyk is exactly what boxing needs

With Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua has found solace in the unlikeliest place

As Usyk shows ‘AJ’ around Kyiv, three months after the deaths of two of Joshua’s close friends, their bond is a refreshing union in a time of division

As Anthony Joshua’s heavy feet stamped over the metronomic ‘vvvrrrrp’ of the running machine’s belt, there stood one of his greatest rivals, inches away, staring him down.

“You like coconut?” Oleksandr Usyk asked the British heavyweight, a look of anticipation in the Ukrainian’s eyes. Then came the slightest nod from Joshua, the movement almost indistinguishable from the rhythm of his running. “Yeeeeessss, you like!” was Usyk’s gleeful response.

“We’re now not here,” said Usyk, dressed in a yellow top and shorts and a blue bandana, the colours of his beloved country. “We’re on Miami Beach. We drink cold coconut with ice. And music!” Dancing and a kind of muted beatboxing ensued from Usyk, the next stage of his encouragement.

He and Joshua were, of course, not on Miami Beach drinking any sort of coconut-flavoured beverage; they were in a gym in Kyiv, Ukraine, as opponents-turned-friends. More than that, Usyk has since said: they are now brothers.

Their unexpected bond has been a refreshing union in a time of division, both in the boxing world and the wider one. Promotions, governing bodies and lawyers have begun to clash as frequently in boxing as the fighters themselves, amid a sporting civil war, while a real-world war has erupted in recent weeks, as you might have noticed.

Usyk knows a thing or two about war, certainly more than he would wish to. The former two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, and two-time conqueror of Joshua, continues to support his compatriots as best as he can, four years into Ukraine’s renewed conflict with Russia. In fact, the 39-year-old’s second duel with “AJ” took place just six months after Russia’s invasion of Usyk’s nation, with the southpaw overcome by emotion after beating the Briton for the second time in a year.

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Joshua was infamously overcome by emotion, too. In a (possibly concussion-induced) rage, he dumped Usyk’s unified heavyweight titles over the ropes of the Riyadh ring, before storming out of it. Joshua, now 36, returned and did his best to recover some grace, having failed to recover his old belts during the bout itself. In his defence, he has been a most-gracious ambassador of himself and his sport for the vast majority of his career.

In any case, he and Usyk have come a long way since that encounter in August 2022. Now, the unbeaten Usyk is showing Joshua around Kyiv.

“I wanted to show Anthony my national food, my culture, Ukrainian music, everything,” Usyk told the Daily Mail this week. “I want him to feel my energy and understand the places that are important to me. Maidan [the main city square], for example, is now like a memorial. It’s not only about Ukrainians, it’s about all the people who help and protect Ukraine – people from the UK, Europe, the USA, Australia, the whole world.

“When we talk, I tell Anthony about the young guys, people born in the 2000s, who are going through all of this. You hear about the night bombing, the events happening here, and you realise how serious it is. He says: ‘Oh, my God, it’s a big problem.’ And I say: ‘Yeah, brother, it’s a big problem.’”

“Brother” may just be the key word. “I really appreciate that he’s here,” Usyk continues. “To me, he’s like a big brother. He’s not my rival, not my opponent; he’s my partner, my brother.”

It feels especially poignant given the timing, just three months after Joshua survived a fatal car crash in Nigeria, in which two of his friends lost their lives. As well as being friends, Joshua’s teammates Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele were his “brothers”.

In fact, the initial shock of seeing Joshua in Kyiv with Usyk came not just from the surreality of the situation, but the notion that AJ’s presence in such a dangerous place might not have been wise – especially in the aftermath of December’s accident. Yet Joshua seems to have found a kind of solace there with Usyk. That is important.

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One particularly moving moment for Joshua and Usyk was an encounter with a Ukrainian soldier, cursed to wear as haunted an expression as one could imagine, who handed the Briton a patch displaying a territory that he had seemingly been defending.

Right now, wars are being waged inside and outside boxing. Those outside obviously grant a crucial perspective on the irrelevance of those inside. Still, amid all this, AJ has been fighting his own personal battle – and in Usyk, he has found an unlikely, welcome comrade.

Usyk Backs Joshua For Undisputed Return Despite Current Position

Oleksandr Usyk is backing Anthony Joshua to become undisputed again, a projection that does not match where Joshua currently sits in the heavyweight order.

The former unified champion does not hold a belt and is outside the immediate title picture, yet Usyk placed him at the front of a future run.

“Maybe in 2026 or 2027, Anthony can become the undisputed champion,” Usyk said in a recent interview via CDaly15, discussing a timeline that would require Joshua to move past several active contenders and titleholders already in position.

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For Joshua to become an undisputed champion, it would require that he defeat the winner of the Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois fight to capture the WBO belt, then go after the other three belts once Usyk relinquishes them. There’s an excllent change that Joshua would need to fight the likes of Moses Itauma for one of those belts. That would be a tough fight for him to take, given his age and history of having issues with punchers.

Joshua’s recent stretch has included defeats to Usyk and Dubois and a rebuild phase rather than title activity, leaving him without a direct route to any of the major belts. The current championship picture is already occupied, and the next fights around those titles are being discussed without Joshua. Usyk’s comment places him back into that conversation without any confirmed route.

Usyk still calls Joshua a champion because of his mindset and toughness, not his belts. He says that while also predicting Joshua will hold all the titles again, even though he is still working his way back into the top of the division.

Nothing is set up yet to get Joshua into a mandatory spot or a title fight. The timeline Usyk mentioned would need a lot to happen first, like other fighters winning belts and eliminators that haven’t even taken place.

Usyk’s comments keep Joshua linked to the top names, even as the title picture moves without him. The route back exists, but nothing is in place yet.