The opportunity to take control of his career was a driving force in his decision to face Rico Verhoeven. The three-time undisputed champion will get his wish on May 23 when he faces the former Glory Kickboxing heavyweight champion in the main event of “Glory in Giza” in a 12-round heavyweight bout on May 23 at Pyramids of Giza in Egypt on DAZN PPV.

The WBC is sanctioning the fight as a title defense for Usyk, who also holds The Ring, IBF and WBA titles.

“One time, I want to do what I want,“ Usyk said at the launch press conference in London on Tuesday. “Not [what I] need because a lot of time I do what other people need … Now, I do what I need.”

The undercard includes Hamzah Sheeraz versus Alem Begic for the vacant WBO super middleweight title in the co-main event, Jack Catterall versus Shakhram Giyasov for the WBA regular welterweight belt, Richard Torrez versus Frank Sanchez in an IBF heavyweight title eliminator and Ring and WBO 115-pound champion Mizuki Hiruta versus Mai Soliman.

Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs), The Ring’s No. 1-ranked fighter pound-for-pound, has consistently had to go to opponents’ backyards as both challenger and champion. Most of his run through the World Boxing Super Series tournament en route to becoming the undisputed champion at cruiserweight consisted of fighting in enemy territory, and in his final fight at the weight class, he went to Manchester to face Tony Bellew and won by eighth-round stoppage.

The Ukrainian southpaw’s run at heavyweight wasn’t too dissimilar, as he had to travel to the UK to face Anthony Joshua in their first fight and he upset the British star by unanimous decision to become the unified champion. Usyk became a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion when he stopped British heavyweight Daniel Dubois for a second time on July 19 at Wembley Stadium.

Verhoeven represents a different challenge compared to anyone Usyk has faced. The 36-year-old Dutch kickboxer is 66-10 with 21 KOs as a kickboxer and reigned as the heavyweight champion in Glory, the top kickboxing organization in the world, from 2013 to 2025 before vacating the title in November.

He last fought on June 14, beating former Glory light heavyweight champion Artem Vakhitov by unanimous decision. The Dutch kickboxer has one professional boxing match under his belt, which he won by second-round knockout against a winless Janos Finfera in 2014.

Even with the chance he could be on the wrong end of one of the biggest upsets in sports history, Usyk’s approach isn’t deviating one bit.

“There’s no pressure for me,” Usyk said. “It’s just a fight.”