{"id":938710,"date":"2026-05-05T06:10:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T06:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/938710\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T06:10:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T06:10:27","slug":"oleksandr-usyk-next-title-fight-plotted-if-he-gets-past-rico-verhoeven-in-egypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/938710\/","title":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk next title fight plotted if he gets past Rico Verhoeven in Egypt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oleksandr Usyk is being lined up to fight Agit Kabayel later this year if he beats Rico Verhoeven.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The unified Ukrainian heavyweight king defends his WBC belt against Dutch kickboxing legend Verhoeven<\/a> in a wild spectacle at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt later this month.<\/p>\n

\"Agit<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Kabayel, 27-0, has been patiently waiting in the wings for his shot at heavyweight goldCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Also on the card, Brits Hamzah Sheeraz<\/a> and Jack Catterall<\/a> have respective title bouts, while Frank Sanchez takes on Richard Torrez Jr in an IBF heavyweight final eliminator.<\/p>\n

Despite Verhoeven oozing confidence to make history for his meeting with Usyk<\/a>, the latter is understandably an overwhelming favourite to get his arm raised in Egypt.<\/p>\n

So plans are already being discussed for Usyk’s future beyond the Verhoeven fight.<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old has already suggested he will make just two more ringwalks after the contest before retiring.<\/p>\n

READ MORE BOXING NEWS<\/p>\n

Well, according to Ring Magazine<\/a>, Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh plans to talk to Usyk about fighting Kabayel next, if he gets past Verhoeven.<\/p>\n

They report Alalshikh wants Usyk to enter enemy territory to face the undefeated German in his backyard towards the back end of 2026.<\/p>\n

Usyk has changed his tune on Kabayel fight<\/p>\n

In March, Usyk reopened the door to facing Kabayel<\/a> before he hangs up the gloves.<\/p>\n

He had previously said that his path after Verhoeven will be the winner of Fabio Wardley<\/a> vs Daniel Dubois<\/a> before a trilogy with Tyson Fury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Maybe I will fight Kabayel,” Usyk told the Daily Mail.<\/p>\n

“Maybe I don’t face\u00a0Tyson Fury\u00a0for a third time and I fight Kabayel instead.<\/p>\n

\"Ukraine's<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Usyk fight Verhoeven on May 23 at the Pyramids of GizaCredit: AFP\"His<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

And it looks like Alalshikh wants Usyk to fight Kabayel if he winsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“I only say my plan, but that is not set in stone. <\/p>\n

“I understand the Agit fans are saying you must fight him, you must fight him. But I don’t have to fight him.<\/p>\n

“I must live my life, I must look after my team, my children. As for fighting, I just work hard and my opponents work hard.<\/p>\n

“Look, maybe it’s possible I fight Agit. All I can say is he’s a great fighter and he’s very smart.<\/p>\n

Kabayel\u00a0retained his WBC interim heavyweight title against Damian Knyba<\/a> in Oberhausen, Germany, last time out.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old had a clear message after his win.<\/p>\n

\"Agit<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Kabayel has destroyed several top heavyweights on his journey to boxing’s summitCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“I have waited so long for this title shot,” he said with the crowd chanting Usyk’s name.<\/p>\n

“Last time I beat three monsters in the Riyadh Season. Give me the world title fight. I’m ready.<\/p>\n

“Really, I’m ready. Let’s go.”<\/p>\n

Kabayel\u00a0fought three times in Riyadh between 2023 and 2025 in his first professional fights outside of Europe.<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

He stopped the last man to fight Fury, Arslanbek Makhmudov<\/a>, in December 2023, before continuing his momentum with wins against Sanchez<\/a> and Zhilei Zhang<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Boxing schedule<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For all the upcoming fights and results this year, check out\u00a0talkSPORT.com’s\u00a0 boxing schedule<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk is being lined up to fight Agit Kabayel later this year if he beats Rico Verhoeven.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":938711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[162312,1935,4496,5122,262238,232593,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-938710","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-agit-kabayel","9":"tag-boxing","10":"tag-boxing-news","11":"tag-oleksandr-usyk","12":"tag-oleksandr-usyk-next-fight","13":"tag-rico-verhoeven","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116520488083199619","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}