Namely, Rico was supposed to fight Joshua this year, but the plans fell through after the British boxer was involved in a fatal traffic accident late last year. The accident occurred ten days after Joshua knocked out YouTuber Jake Paul, resulting in the deaths of two members of Joshua's team and casting uncertainty over the future of the former world heavyweight champion. Joshua has since returned to training, but Verhoeven did not wait long and arranged another fight for the WBC heavyweight belt, which will take place on May 23 near the pyramids in Giza. A press conference was held in London today, where Verhoeven explained the sequence of events. "That fight with Joshua was supposed to happen. Everything was agreed upon, but then the tragic accident occurred and disrupted everything. Logically, Anthony needed time to recover and get back on his feet. We didn't have, say, a direct new opponent, so we talked with the team: 'Who is available?' I said: 'What about Usyk? That makes sense. The undisputed kickboxing champion against the undisputed boxing champion.' And that's how it came about. Do I deserve the fight? I think it's not for me to think about that. I presented the idea, saying: 'How great would it be for these two worlds to collide?' The promoter said: 'That's a great idea. We like it.' And then they offered the belt as well. I said: 'Yes, that's even better.' I understand that people outside the kickboxing world may not know my credentials, but the WBC also has a branch for Muay Thai kickboxing. So, for them, it made sense. They thought: 'Hey, he is one of the greatest, if not the greatest kickboxer of all time. He has the credentials, so a fight for a real title makes sense,'" explained Verhoeven. Incidentally, Verhoeven is preparing for the fight in Egypt with his longtime boxing coach Peter Fury, the uncle of British boxing star Tyson Fury.