{"id":546184,"date":"2026-04-23T09:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/546184\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:53:07","slug":"oleksandr-usyk-has-a-date-set-for-retirement-it-is-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/546184\/","title":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk has a date set for retirement: “It is close”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next month, Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> kickstarts a three-fight plan before his potential 2027 retirement and the heavyweight ruler has now provided an update on his final months as a professional.<\/p>\n

Usyk has established himself as a boxing legend in recent years, building on his phenomenal undisputed run as a cruiserweight and replicating the feat as a heavyweight, becoming just the second fighter to claim the undisputed crown in both divisions.<\/p>\n

At 39-years-old, Usyk is beginning to wind down and that shows by the fact that his next opponent boasts a boxing record of just 1-0, with Rico Verhoeven being a kickboxing superstar rather than a recognised threat to the heavyweight throne.<\/p>\n

After Verhoeven, the Ukrainian is targeting the winner of Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois, though has said he will consider mandatory challenger Agit Kabayel, too. Previously, a trilogy with Tyson Fury was his desired next move, however with \u2018The Gypsy King\u2019 set to face Anthony Joshua, Usyk may take a step back and choose another rival for his farewell bout.<\/p>\n

Regardless of who stands in the opposite corner, the unified champion told Daily Mail Boxing<\/a> he has a date in mind for hanging up the gloves, and that it is \u2018close\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, of course [I am savouring each moment of my career before retirement]. Three days ago, I think about, \u2018this is date\u2019. [I have been thinking about] how I say [that I am retired and] what I say. Listen, it is close.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unconventional Usyk-Verhoeven fight takes place at an equally unconventional location, as the two big men headline at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, topping a bill that features a bout which could determine another future Usyk opponent<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Next month, Oleksandr Usyk kickstarts a three-fight plan before his potential 2027 retirement and the heavyweight ruler has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-546184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}