For the first time ever, the reigning heavyweight champion will face his counterpart from the world of kickboxing as Usyk puts his Ring and WBC belts on the line against Verhoeven in an event titled "Glory in Giza."

But this is not the first time boxing has offered big names from other disciplines the chance to try their hand at the sweet science.

In no particular order, we take a look at five of the most significant so-called “crossover fights” that have taken place throughout history — and see whether or not the omens are good for Verhoeven.

Put simply, this was the biggest crossover fight in the history of the genre. Floyd Mayweather had apparently retired from boxing after his November 2015 victory over Andre Berto, which took him to 49-0, but he was still considered the biggest name in combat sports. Just three months after Mayweather beat Berto, UFC star Conor McGregor’s profile exploded as a result of his 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo. And when Mayweather and McGregor finally met in August 2017, the pair each banked nine-figure paydays. The fight itself was not even remotely competitive, however, with Mayweather having it entirely his own way against the boxing debutant before he decided to turn up the heat and take him out in the 10th of their 12-rounder. It also counted on Mayweather’s record and moved him to 50-0.

If “MayMac” was the biggest, then Muhammad Ali against Antonio Inoki on June 26, 1976 has to go down as the strangest. Ali was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and had just knocked out Richard Dunn in the fifth round of their clash at Munich’s Olympiahalle. But a month later, he was at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan to star in an event called “War of the Worlds." In a bid to show that wrestling was the supreme fighting discipline of the time, Japanese professional wrestler Inoki had been staging exhibition showdowns with combatants from various martial arts. What transpired between him and "The Greatest" was little short of a farce as Inoki spent most of the 15 rounds lying on the floor kicking Ali in the legs. The fight was declared a draw and Ali beat Ken Norton in their trilogy fight three months later.

For a few moments in the third round of this memorable clash at Boulevard Hall, Riyadh, the most inexplicable result in boxing history suddenly seemed possible. With 45 seconds left of the round, Fury threw a straight one-two but debutant Francis Ngannou countered with a left hook and sent Fury down. Not for the first time, Fury got back to his feet to beat the count and eventually won a contentious split decision after completing all 10 rounds against the former UFC champion. But October 28, 2023 was nearly the day that rocked heavyweight boxing forever. Just seven months after nearly suffering what would have been an embarrassing defeat to Ngannou, Fury was back in the Saudi capital in order to face Oleksandr Usyk for all the heavyweight belts in the first of their two undisputed fights.

As a reward for how well Ngannou had done against Fury, the man who still holds the record for the hardest punch ever recorded, was offered the chance to face the other leading British heavyweight of the era. This time, however, there was absolutely no whiff of an upset as Anthony Joshua delivered a stark and violent reminder of the gulf in class between any elite heavyweight boxer and an MMA fighter taking part in only his second professional boxing match. Joshua had already dropped Ngannou heavily in the first round and he had no intention of dragging the fight out for any longer than necessary. In the second, “AJ” stalked the Cameroonian in search of the knockout, which would eventually come in chilling fashion from a savage right hand with 22 seconds left of the round.

Although the annals of crossover boxing might not make particularly encouraging reading for Verhoeven, he might take some encouragement from the fight between MMA icon Anderson Silva and former world middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. The pair met at Estadio Jalisco, Mexico on June 19, 2021 in an eight-round boxing match, which was Silva’s first foray into the sport since 2005. In the 16 years since, “The Spider” had established himself as maybe the greatest mixed martial artist in history but he proved he could also box a bit against Chavez, whom he beat via split decision. Silva would go on to stop Tito Ortiz in the first round of their boxing match three months later but then lost to Jake Paul on points in October 2022. His boxing record is currently 4-2 (3 KOs).