Oleksandr Usyk\u2019s return to the ring comes against kickboxing icon Rico Verhoeven. UFC heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall, has weighed in after training with the Dutch fighter for a decade.<\/p>\n
Following years of elite wins on the road \u2013 becoming undisputed cruiserweight champion and repeating the feat at heavyweight twice \u2013 Usyk is taking a spectacle fight against Verhoeven, staged at The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt.<\/a><\/p>\n Though many see the outcome as a foregone conclusion, Aspinall warned fans not to write the challenger off.<\/p>\n Speaking to Boxing News at a recent press conference to announce his signing with Matchroom Talent Agency, the MMA champ talked up his friend and training partner\u2019s chances.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Rico\u2019s getting wrote off. Listen, I\u2019ve been training with Rico for the last ten years, so I\u2019m obviously pretty biased, he\u2019s a good friend of mine. But he\u2019s a big man. He\u2019s had a lot of fights \u2013 fair enough they\u2019re in a different sport \u2013 but if he hits him it could be over.<\/p>\n \u201cDo I think that Rico\u2019s a better boxer than Usyk? Absolutely not, I\u2019m not saying that at all. But I think that he\u2019s being wrote off and he\u2019s definitely got a chance of winning.\u201d<\/p>\n