The Usyk Rico fight week is upon us – a look at keys to victory in the heavyweight title fight in boxing.
There is really little chance most give Rico against Usyk this weekend but that takes all the pressure off him going in as well.
Here’s some of the keys to victory as we see it:
- Usyk uses southpaw stance and lateral movement to control distance in fights.
- Usyk averages 17.3 jabs landed per round in his heavyweight title fights.
- Verhoeven fights from an orthodox kickboxing stance.
- Verhoeven’s only professional boxing bout ended in a second-round knockout.
- Usyk has gone the 12-round distance 9 times in his professional career.
- Verhoeven has never competed in a 12-round boxing match.
- Usyk’s reach is measured at 78 inches.
- Verhoeven’s reach is measured at 77 inches.
- Usyk weighed 223.5 pounds for his July 2025 bout against Daniel Dubois.
- Verhoeven competed at approximately 265 pounds during his GLORY tenure.
- Usyk has defended heavyweight titles against Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, and Daniel Dubois.
- Verhoeven has 13 successful GLORY heavyweight title defenses.
- Usyk holds wins over 7 current or former world champions in boxing.
- Verhoeven has not faced a top-15 ranked heavyweight boxer.
- The WBC, WBA, and IBF each require different criteria for mandatory challengers.
The Usyk vs Rico fight is not at all what anyone asked for.
But it is here now and you know, it will be a novelty fight week and it will be entertaining for boxing.
And it will gain some new audience again for the professional boxing product in a new market.
So there are pros against the cons here as well.
