The WBC recently approved Oleksandr Usyk’s title defence against Rico Verhoeven but ordered the Ukrainian to face interim champion Agit Kabayel next.
Usyk will face kickboxing star Verhoeven in Egypt this May, with the contest originally thought to be for a commemorative WBC belt but later sanctioned as a legitimate world title bout. The WBC has received backlash for the decision, given the Dutch kickboxing champion has just had one professional boxing match and does not feature in the world rankings.
President Mauricio Sulaiman has guaranteed that Kabayel’s well-earned shot will be next up, but Usyk’s most recent interview, in which he revealed his planned final three fights before retirement, made no mention of the German heavyweight.
With the two-time undisputed champion looking to face Verhoeven, the winner of Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois and Tyson Fury, it appears he plans on ignoring the WBC order and risks being stripped of the green and gold belt.
Should Usyk manage to keep hold of his IBF and WBA belts – far from guaranteed as neither sanctioning body has commented on the Verhoeven bout – and negotiate with the winner of WBO champion Wardley vs Dubois, he may lobby for the WBC to allow the undisputed contest to trump his mandatory challenge and be allowed to keep the belt.
That would be a hammer blow to Kabayel, who has held the interim belt since February 2025 with a win over Zhilei Zhang. He has since defended against Damian Knyba in Germany, drawing a packed arena to move to 27-0 with 19 knockouts.
