EXCLUSIVE! Oleksandr Usyk & Rico Verhoeven Sit Down Interview | Mr. Verzace Podcast | Ep. 19

Oleksandr Usyk & Rico Verhoeven join the latest edition of Mr. Verzace Podcast to talk about their upcoming fight on May 23 at the Pyramids of Giza. LIVE on DAZN.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Welcome back to the Mr. Versace Podcast. I'm your host, Mr. Versace himself, Rick Reno, and joining me today are the two combatants who are going to collide on May 23 at the pyramids in Giza, Egypt, live and exclusive on the zone, the recognized heavyweight champion of the world, Alexander Usik, and the man that they call the king of kickboxing, the man himself, Rico Verhoven. Yes, sir. Alexander, I'll start with you first. You've fought all over the world, everywhere. What's it like now that you're gonna fight at the pyramids in Giza?

SPEAKER_02 0:58

I like because it's uh the first time I uh yeji pit. Yeah. Me too. Yeah, yeah. Uh for me it doesn't matter when uh we'll be fight. It's you know I send a message. Hey, listen, uh you want to fight in the USA? Yes, of course, I go. Send me a message. Uh you want to fight uh Saudi? Yes, of course, I go. It's uh normal. For me, I like when you But I want I won't fight uh in uh Kiev in Ukraine, but now it's not possible. Where I was born.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Yeah. So when you were first told by your management you're gonna fight at the pyramids, you probably were like, Where? I think uh were you uh familiar with Rico before this fight came to you? Do you have to do some research on him?

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Yes, uh I look uh in kick kickboxing fights, yes. Uh because you know now we have UFC, you know, it's like uh very famous, but 10 uh years ago it's only K1. Yeah, yeah, we know K1, but uh I have friends Ukrainians uh Arthur Kyshenko is a K1, it's not heavyweight, uh light uh light heavy, maybe 70 75 kilos, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But uh yeah. Huh? Yeah. But yes, I I look uh what do it, this guy.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Rico, how did you react when you first were told you're gonna fight at the pyramids?

SPEAKER_00 2:45

I just gotta I gotta send a picture. I gotta send a picture of the this is where the fight is gonna be with that backdrop. I was like, wow. It's iconic. It's like going back in the days like the rumble in the jungle.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

So it's very unique. How did your friends or family react when you told them this is where my next fight's taking place?

SPEAKER_00 3:09

No, I never fought there. I never heard there was a big event there. So yeah, it's it's super iconic, especially with uh with uh the backdrop as the the pyramids, it's out of this world.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Now I know you've said that this fight is the type of challenge that you've been waiting for. What did you mean by that?

SPEAKER_00 3:28

What do I mean by that is like within the sport of kickboxing, I've been dominating it for such a long time. And I was just looking and open for something new. And then yeah, this this crossed my path. So I was like uh yeah, felt blessed.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

If I was looking for something new, I don't know if I'd want to this guy as something new.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

No, but if you look at it, but the test yourself to your limit. Exactly. Um like I said, I I never want to be comfortable and always try to look like how can you outdo yourself and how can you be the best version of you? You can only be the best version if you got the best version of somebody else across of you. Then yeah, let's uh put that to the test. And especially with his yeah, he he got the nickname of the man that's unbeatable.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Alexander, did you prepare any differently for him? There's not obviously a lot of boxing footage of his style. Was there anything different that you did in camp to prepare for this fight than you have for normal boxing opponents?

SPEAKER_02 4:43

No, my prepare not change. Uh we do it the same work, but sometimes we we change uh sparring partner. But we're not uh drink, we not smoke, we we rest, we uh we boxing. Yeah, it's uh it's a normal because uh it's a boxing fight. Yeah, yeah. We look for uh guys who same uh do it work like a Rico, but my uh my prepare not change. My prepare hard. But listen, I told uh like this today evening uh uh my uh second training, yeah? Yeah, it's a hard training. Oof. It's it's but now I hear I not do it, you know. Today I have rest uh rest day. But I know when I back in my training camp, uh Cuba give me a double training. But today I'm happy, but tomorrow I have a problem. Not so happy, yes, not so happy, but uh but I have uh moment today it's uh Rico, has kickboxing helped you to transition into the boxing rank?

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Definitely, definitely, because I think if you look at boxing and how boxing fighters are built, yeah, it's different. Within kickboxing, you get challenges, like sometimes you just try something and sometimes you succeed, and sometimes you do not. So earlier in my career, I lost some fights. And was that bad? I don't think so, because I think from the fights that I lost, I learned even more. So what you have in boxing, you have like amateur fights and you have professional fights, and you don't have that in kickboxing, you just like have a record, you have this many fights, and that's what it is from amateur and professional altogether.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Now you tested the waters with boxing early on. Yeah. Uh why didn't you stick with it? Was the just the money not there? Just didn't appeal to you at the time?

SPEAKER_00 7:00

No, I think uh it was it was good to try, but then I got uh an amazing kickboxing offer from the organization. So it was like, how much sense does it make to transition into boxing and start all the way at the bottom?

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Alexander, what makes Rico dangerous compared to your other past opponents?

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Because it's a fighter, it's world champion and uh kickboxing. Uh listen, our people who training uh more uh five, ten years and who have uh belt than boxing kickboxing is a dangerous guy.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

And and you've seen what happened to certain fighters when they face someone from another sport and they don't take them as seriously.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

It's a dangerous UFC boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, it's uh it's crazy people who do it this work, it's a crazy man. Because I I know it's uh sometimes it's pain. Sometimes you not wanna do another training, but you you continue to do it because uh it's your uh choice. Uh but wrestler, boxer, kickboxer, it's it's different uh it's different people.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

It's crazy. Reports have suggested that you haven't made up your mind beyond this right if you'll continue with boxing or go on MMA. If you were to pull off a major upset, would you continue on in boxing or you'd leave it open to whatever the biggest opportunity came to you?

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Aaron Ross Powell No, like I said, I'm I'm not looking past this fight. This man is the objective, and this is the man to beat. So whatever happens next, we'll see that. But for now, the 23rd of May is what we're focusing on.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Alexander, you're easily one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. You're at the top of your game at heavyweight. Why is Rico the right fight for you right now?

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Because it's the two worlds boxing and kickboxing. Rico uh undisputed in kickboxing. I'm undisputed in boxing. But I mean two two worlds. I think it's uh good uh for fans and uh and chat and challenge uh challenge yourself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Have um you've heard some of the criticisms out there from other heavyweights, Wardley, Moses, like why didn't he pick me? Why is he picking this guy? I want to fight, Usiq. Have you even paid attention to any of that? Or they'll get their turn soon enough. I say thank you so much, guys. I love you. Enrico, initially the plan for you was to have a fight with Anthony Joshua. That was uh, you know, that was even discussed with me. Uh, I know they were targeting a date in February. Uh unfortunately, Anthony Joshua was in a bad accident, everything got derailed. Um when you got the news that that was off, were you initially thinking, well, my boxing mega fight's not gonna happen?

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Or yeah, so we were like, okay, what's what's out there then for us? Because they didn't come with like a straight-up solution right away. So me and the team were just discussing, like, okay, who else is out there? And it had to make sense coming in as an undisputed kickboxing champion. Um and we were talking about it, and we said, like, hey, yeah, of course, we got Alexander Ustik, who's the undisputed boxing champion. Hey, there's a storyline there. You're undisputed, he's undisputed. So I said, okay, let me let me talk to the organization and let's see what they think. So I told them the idea, and he said, Hey, we love that. That's a great, that's a great idea. Um, then got in touch with uh with Usik and his team. And I think uh I think two weeks later we were on the phone together for uh yeah, for a short time, and yeah, things came together.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Now, uh very familiar friend of yours was in action last week in Tottenham Stadium, Tyson Fury, who's made his return. Obviously, he said at some point he'd love to have a trilogy with you. You've also said you're open to that idea if it happens. What did you think of his performance against Mahmoud?

SPEAKER_02 11:47

I don't think about Tyson Fury. Tyson Vien is good. I first uh I look first uh uh first sixth round, you know? Yeah, uh yeah. I don't remember maybe four, maybe five rounds. Uh Mahmoudoving punched Tyson. I say, oof, oof, be careful. Like a second punch. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, Tyson, hands up, hands up, please. Listen, uh congrats. Great, uh good back. It's normal. Uh I heard Tyson say, hey, I won a trilogy. Now it's not possible because my focus is Rika. It's a May 23. Then we speak after fight, but now uh we I have uh fight and uh focus is my focus is uh May 23, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

You've gotten looks like pretty close with Anthony Joshua, and that looks like the direction that Fury's going into for his next fight. You fought Joshua twice, you fought Fury twice. How what do you think of that matchup? Especially since now you've helped Anthony in camp and seeing him develop.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Uh we're now uh we're training now in uh one camp. Uh sometimes we train together, uh but uh maybe two training of uh swimming pool, but uh hard training uh but uh when training uh when uh Anthony sparring uh I come after after sparring. Yeah, yeah. Anthony go uh rest. I uh I start uh sparring. But yeah, we uh we're training together. It's good. I think I believe uh it's uh undisputed future champion.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

So you feel confident based on what you see, what you saw the other night from Fury that he has a very good opportunity to win that fight?

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Listen, we I'll have uh chance, but we must uh we must do uh training, we must do uh a lot of uh work and uh very very smart like uh prepare, but I think yes, it's possible.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Enrico, did you get a chance to watch the fight last week? And what did you take away from it as a big heavyweight fight?

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Yeah, for me it's like I was at uh also at the Wildish Shisora fight uh live, and I was uh watching the the other event uh at home. And for me, it's just good to get a taste of where is the level and how do I see myself matching within that and yeah, it feels good. Feels good seeing it, and it gives me a lot of confidence.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

And you know, a lot of people view you as a legend in kickboxing, you built quite a legacy for everyone that world they call you the king. Why take such a dangerous fight?

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Like this? Yes. Because I've conquered everything within the kickboxing sport. So now going out the sport, not feeling I'm done just yet, then why not take on the the biggest, like the king of boxing, actually? So I think yeah, king versus king. I think that's the that's the the greatest yeah, challenge I could I could have uh taken. And it for me it makes it makes a lot of sense because I do not like to get comfortable and I'd like to challenge myself to the ultimate. And I think that's what I'm doing right now facing this man.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

When it first came on the table for you, was there anyone close to you that said, Maybe are you sure you want to do this? Maybe you want to think twice, it's a different sport.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

No, yeah. Not close to me, but a little bit further away. Further away. They were like, Are you serious? This man is is beaten everybody. He is he is the very best, and arguably the very best to have ever done it. I said, I know. So what an amazing opportunity I'm I'm having now to to have the honor to share the ring with this man and get the rounds in and take his belt. So uh no, it's uh like I said, it's an incredible honor and also uh amazing that he he took that fight because he like he said, he has uh hundreds of options in front of him, and he took this fight. So I'm appreciative for that. I'm thankful for that, and yeah, on the night we're gonna see and make the best man win.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

And Alexander, in closing, I was gonna ask you you've accomplished just about everything that a boxer could accomplish. Olympic gold medalist, undisputed at cruiserweight, undisputed at heavyweight, undefeated. Is there anything left that you see for you in your career that you still want to accomplish?

SPEAKER_02 17:13

Trilogy is my friend Greedy Belly.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

If he gets past Anthony Joshua. Or either way, you want Greedy Belly in the ring. Either way.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

This has been the Mr. Versace Podcast. I want to thank Alexander Enrico for joining me today. May the 23rd. You're gonna see these two guys in the ring, the fantasy matchup nobody saw coming at the pyramids in Giza, Egypt, live and exclusive on the zone.