Peter Fury has confirmed he will be involved in Rico Verhoeven's training camp ahead of his shock fight for Oleksandr Usyk's WBC title on May 23.Â
Heavyweight champion kickboxer Verhoeven is scheduled to take on three-time undisputed champion Usyk in a boxing bout in Giza, Egypt, with the WBC confirming that the Ukrainian is making a voluntary defence of his belt.
Fury, the uncle of Tyson Fury, will once again collaborate with Verhoeven to work on his boxing as he gears up for the second professional bout of his career.
Verhoeven has held the Glory heavyweight title for over 11 years as one of the greatest kickboxers in the history of the sport. His sole professional boxing match to date ended in a second-round knockout victory over Janos Finfera in April 2024.
"Quick update. Just arrived here in London," Fury said on X. "Going home and then back to work. Been away for three months in training camps and now we're off again to the biggest training camp, which is Oleksandr Usyk-Rico Verhoeven in Egypt at the Pyramids.
"It's going to be a great night, a lot of hard work to be done. Two great people, two great champions in their own right, what a privilege.
"Onwards we go, three months away in training camps, Spain, Holland now back to Holland for another three-month training camp."
Usyk will be returning to the ring for the first time since knocking out Daniel Dubois to win the undisputed heavyweight championship for a second time at Wembley Stadium last July.
Having been named undisputed champion at cruiserweight, Usyk repeated the feat at heavyweight in May 2024 when he defeated Tyson Fury by split decision, before following up with a unanimous-decision win in the pair's rematch later that December.
The WBC confirmed in a statement that Usyk's belt will be at stake, but it remains to be seen whether the 39-year-old's IBF and WBA titles will also be on the line.
"After careful consideration, the WBC Board of Governors has ruled in favour of sanctioning WBC World Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk's voluntary title defence against legendary kickboxing Champion Rico Verhoeven," the statement read.
"At its 63rd Annual Convention in Bangkok, Thailand, the WBC granted Champion Usyk a voluntary defence. Subsequently, the WBC received a petition to sanction the Usyk v Herhoeven fight as a voluntary defence."
Agit Kabayel is Usyk's mandatory for the WBC belt after stopping Damian Knyba in January to extend his perfect record to 27-0 following wins over Zhilei Zhang, Frank Sanchez and Arslanbek Makhmudov, who is preparing to face Tyson Fury in April.
