Mauricio Sulaiman Unveils WBC Nile Belt For Usyk Fight

Mauricio Sulaiman presented Usyk with the custom WBC belt ahead of the Rico Verhoeven event near the Pyramids of Giza

The WBC unveiled a custom “King of the Nile” belt for Oleksandr Usyk ahead of his May 23 heavyweight fight against Rico Verhoeven in Egypt. Mauricio Sulaiman presented the green-and-gold commemorative title as part of the growing spectacle surrounding the “Glory in Giza” event near the Pyramids.

Usyk was shown fingering the green-and-gold belt in a short video released ahead of the event. The custom title continues the WBC’s recent tradition of creating special belts tied to major cards and international locations. The Usyk-Verhoeven event is scheduled to take place near the Pyramids of Giza as part of the “Glory in Giza” promotion.

The belt features gold detailing, emerald-colored leather straps, and a plaque referencing the May 23 event. Sulaiman was present during the presentation alongside members of Usyk’s team and event staff.

We are definitely not looking at the crown jewels here. When you strip away the promotional presentation, a standard world title belt costs between $2,000 and $3,000 to manufacture. They are built using a leather strap and metal plates made from brass or zinc alloys, which are then given a gold plating or a gold colored finish to look good under the arena lights.

While these ceremonial WBC creation pieces look spectacular and carry massive symbolic prestige for the fighters, the organization is not embedding museum-grade, multi-carat natural rubies into the leather plates. Authentic, untreated, vivid red rubies of that size would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars alone, which simply is not happening for a one-off promotional trophy.

Unless it is a massive anomaly like the million dollar “Money Belt” from Mayweather vs. McGregor, which actually used real diamonds and emeralds, these commemorative titles are decorated with synthetic crystals or glass.

Seeing glass fillings on what is supposed to be an elite prize can definitely feel cheap. It highlights the reality of modern sanctioning bodies, where the focus is often on corporate marketing, and the belts are manufactured as temporary promotional props.

For the boxers, the actual value has nothing to do with the metals or the glass stones. The real worth comes entirely from the history of the lineage and what it took to win it.

The belt itself is packed with custom details for the Giza event, including:

• Ancient Egyptian Symbols: Golden scarabs on both sides of the central plate to represent strength and protection.
• The Eye of Horus: Featured prominently on the side plate as a traditional symbol of victory and divine power.
• A Winged Solar Disk: Placed at the very top of the main gold plate.
• Custom Color Palette: A deep green base designed to mirror traditional ancient patterns and temple aesthetics.

The fight is getting plenty of talk, and this unique strap definitely dials up the pageantry for the occasion.

That massive security presence is hilarious. He looks like he was custom-built in a lab specifically to stop anyone from pulling a dine-and-dash with that Nile strap.

Given the sheer amount of pageantry, security, and politics that follow Mauricio Sulaiman and these one-off custom creations, having a human brick wall hovering in the background is just standard operating procedure. Even with a character like Oleksandr Usyk, who is usually more interested in jokes and mind games than staging a mid-day belt heist, the WBC takes no chances when their prize jewelry is out of the case.

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