{"id":572808,"date":"2026-03-31T11:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/572808\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T11:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:58:07","slug":"usyk-100-looking-at-plan-b-due-to-travel-uncertainty-for-verhoeven-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/572808\/","title":{"rendered":"Usyk &#8216;100% looking at plan B&#8217; due to travel uncertainty for Verhoeven fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/oleksandr-usyk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> is due to defend his WBC world heavyweight title against kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven on May 23.<\/p>\n<p>Usyk was previously undisputed before vacating the WBO belt last year. <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/usyk-team-on-world-titles-for-verhoeven\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Controversially, he has been permitted to defend the WBC belt in this upcoming bout against Verhoeven, who is just 1-0 as a pro boxer, but the official stance of the WBA and IBF remains unclear.<\/a> Though the fight is scheduled, a late change of location may be required.<\/p>\n<p>Usyk vs Verhoeven was booked to take place at the Pyramids of Giza \u2013 a striking location for a spectacle fight \u2013 but the war in the Middle East may see it moved.<\/p>\n<p>The unified heavyweight champion was asked about this during a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/suspilne.media\/sport\/1269854-pidgotovka-jde-povnim-hodom-oleksandr-usik-pro-navantazenna-pered-boem-iz-verhuvenom-ta-jmovirnist-planu-b\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Suspline Sport<\/a>, and said that he was aware that a \u2018plan B\u2019 is being explored.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe team is 100% looking at plan B, but I don\u2019t even think about it. I know I have to train, and if anything happens, the team tells me, and I don\u2019t get nervous. I just pray and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The UK\u2019s guidance currently advises against all but essential travel to parts of Egypt amid the US-Iran war. The State Department\u2019s stance for US citizens remains at Level 2 \u2013 Exercise Increased Caution for the country, though many regions are at the highest Level 4 advisory of Do Not Travel.<\/p>\n<p>Implications on the sporting world from the war have also been felt in Saudi Arabia, which has become a boxing hub in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/formula1\/articles\/c5ykne3g305o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Formula One cancelled both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekends<\/a> due to the ongoing conflict. The situation escalated in early 2026 following direct military exchanges between Iran and the United States, raising security concerns across parts of the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>Whether the Usyk-Verhoeven card remains in Egypt or is relocated, contingency plans are clearly being considered behind the scenes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk is due to defend his WBC world heavyweight title against kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven on May&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-572808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572808","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=572808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}