{"id":563557,"date":"2026-03-27T04:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/563557\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T04:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:13:14","slug":"oleksandr-usyk-names-surprising-heavyweight-as-hardest-puncher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/563557\/","title":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk Names Surprising Heavyweight as Hardest Puncher"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what could be seen as a surprising matchup, Oleksandr Usyk is set to take on kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven in the hopes of defending his WBC World Heavyweight title. <\/p>\n

Despite also holding the IBF and WBA belts, only the WBC strap will be on the line for the Ukrainian’s voluntary defense. <\/p>\n

Verhoeven will be the least experienced traditional boxer that Usyk has ever faced as a professional, as the Dutch kickboxer has just one professional bout in the square circle. <\/p>\n

Usyk’s resume to this point in his career has been filled with world champions and unbeaten stars. However, in terms of punching power, one seems to stand above the rest. <\/p>\n

Derek Chisora is the hardest-punching boxer Oleksandr has faced\"Derek<\/p>\n

Derek Chisora | IMAGO \/ PA Images<\/p>\n

In a recent interview with the Daily Mail<\/a>, 39-year-old Usyk was asked to name the five hardest punchers he has faced as a boxer. <\/p>\n

Murat Gassiev earned the fifth-best spot on the list. Usyk faced the Russian in enemy territory as they squared off in Moscow, earning a unanimous decision victory to retain his cruiserweight crown. <\/p>\n

The opponent from his prior fight to Gassiev was his fourth choice, as Mairis Briedis was given the nod by Usyk. <\/p>\n

In third place was notable rival Tyson Fury, whom Usyk defeated on two occasions in 2024. <\/p>\n

Named in second place was the hardest-punching boxer Usyk has faced as a professional, Derek Chisora. Usyk has mentioned on several occasions that Chisora gave him one of the toughest fights of his career, as ‘Del Boy’ was the Ukrainian’s second heavyweight fight. <\/p>\n

The number one choice for Usyk was not a boxer, nor a human, but horses, as he named the hardest puncher he has ever encountered. Previously, in a face-to-face with Dubois, Usyk claimed that being kicked by a horse when he was younger was the most painful blow he had ever endured. <\/p>\n

Although Usyk’s bout vs Chisora was scored in his favor, Chisora stole numerous rounds from Usyk. The judges scored the bout 115-113, 115-113, and 117-112. <\/p>\n

It has also been mentioned on a number of occasions by Usyk that he would be open to a rematch with Chisora. After defeating Daniel Dubois for the second time in 2025, Chisora was one of the names mentioned by Usyk in his post-fight press conference. <\/p>\n

Should Chisora be victorious in his upcoming bout against Deontay Wilder, the Englishman and the Ukrainian could cross paths once again. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In what could be seen as a surprising matchup, Oleksandr Usyk is set to take on kickboxing star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-563557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}