\n<\/p>\n
Unified world champion Oleksandr Usyk said he should be allowed to “do what I want to do” as the heavyweight great defended his decision to face boxing novice Rico Verhoeven on 23 May in Egypt.<\/b><\/p>\n
In a news conference which included a prediction Anthony Joshua would be the next undisputed heavyweight champion and a two-minute face-off, Usyk made it clear the Verhoeven fight was a decision he made for himself in the twilight of his career.<\/p>\n
Verhoeven, 37, has boxed professionally only once – in 2014 – while 39-year-old Usyk is one of the most decorated fighters in the sport’s history.<\/p>\n
“For me it’s a challenge. Rico is a great guy, a dangerous guy,” Usyk said as the pair met at a news conference in London.<\/p>\n
“One time I want to do what I want, not what I need. A lot of time I do what other people need. You have to box this person, or this or this. I say okay. Now I do what I want.”<\/p>\n
The contest is widely viewed as a major mismatch, with critics particularly questioning why the WBC world title is at stake.<\/p>\n
Usyk is an Olympic gold medallist, undisputed cruiserweight champion and two-time undisputed heavyweight champion who remains unbeaten in 24 professional bouts.<\/p>\n
Verhoeven won 66 of his 76 kickboxing fights before announcing his departure from the sport in November. In boxing, he recorded a stoppage victory in his only bout 12 years ago against an opponent who had never won a professional fight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Unified world champion Oleksandr Usyk said he should be allowed to “do what I want to do” as the heavyweight great defended his decision to face boxing novice Rico Verhoeven on 23 May in Egypt. In a news conference which included a prediction Anthony Joshua would be the next undisputed heavyweight champion and a two-minute<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boxing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}