Verhoeven is a solid HW contender by any reasonable standard

Let's just consider the last 22 years.

The three longest reigning belt holders over this period were ex-kickboxer Vitali, Wlad and Wilder.

What proportion of the title fight opponents of those boxers would have beat the Rico we saw two days ago? I suspect that Rico would beat most of them.

Is say Wlad contender Pianeta a better opponent? He was a 28-0-1 pro boxer with wins over Duhaupas, McCall and Botha.

Yes Wlad had beaten him up in sparring the previous year, yes he was journeyman level, a cancer survivor and would have had zero confidence of even going the distance let alone winning, but does that matter? He was a longstanding pro boxer after all.

 

Verhoeven is clearly better than Szpilka, Duhapas, Breazeale, Molina, Washington and 2017 Stiverne.

 

IDK. But he definately studied Jim Carrey s boxing style:

https://c.tenor.com/igRjpAYtQtMAAAAd/tenor.gif

 

No question. Those stiffs are all record-padders extraordinaire. Mediocrities with shaky chins, ready to be shattered

 

Throw in post-Stiverne 2 Arreola as well.

It is probably fair to say that Rico was better than 7 of Wilder's 13 title fight opponents.

 

He appears to be. Imagine if he’d taken up boxing 10 years ago. Instead he’s in the bizarre position of being an incredible prospect / talent…. At age 37.

it’s honestly a shame. He’s now always going to be a “what if”. Because holy ****ing **** what a pile of talent that dude is. Never seen a dude that big move like that, keep up that pace, and actually know how to use his size/strength. Christ, AJ should study the hell out of that fight to see what Rico did up close, because that’s exactly what AJ has always needed to do (but doesn’t).

 

Stiverne 1, Duhaupas, Arreola and Breazeale were all durable.

 

He must be immune to bodyshots

A proper puncher will lay him out though.

 

Usyk looked terrible, so Rico looked decent by comparison. Rico would still lose to Itauma and Kabayel within the first six rounds. This was supposed to be Kabayel's moment. Imagine what Kabayel could have done against that version of Usyk.

 

Also, Rico was given virtually no chance of beating Usyk. This was a cherry-pick that went wrong. A decent contender has to actually accomplish something in boxing. Rico had one professional boxing fight before this.

 

Logically you don't need sanctioned pro or amateur boxing matches to be a high level boxer. They learn techniques and simulate fights in the gym, and 11 year win streak SHW KB champ Rico had a world class boxing environment for 15+ years.

A one-off fight with no footage to study and a lot of ubderestimation also makes an opponent much more dangerous.

An Ngannou or a Rico can be dangerous contenders in a one off fight, especially against styles that favour them more than others.

In terms of wins, Makhmudov has Takam, Allan, Rice and Wach, Ngannou is 0-2. But an 0-0 Ngannou was a more dangerous boxer than Makhmudov imo. 15 years boxing and being the most dangerous ever MMA striker along with a big element of surprise counts. People partly do not want to understand it but it is also novel for these kinds of crossovers to happen, Mayweather was arguably the first here.

Was it a cherry pick? If yes then it's likely less so than the majority of contenders.

Is Rico worse than Leapai, Mormeck, shot Rahman, Williams, Charr or Sosnowski?

 

Hard to say. Kabayel didn't exactly look that flash against his last opponent, and his best wins are leagues below Usyks.

If they do fight next, I expect Usyk to come in top form as mobility will be the key to beating Kabayel.

 

Usyk needs to get himself in shape.. like Fury needed it for Ngannou.

Oleksander thought he had it made, no sweat. So there is a lot to be said for heavyweights that train religioulsy.. like Marciano..

 

I'm hoping he learned his damn lesson. I'm not taking anything away from Rico, he did great, but even at 39 Usyk can do better that that.

 

I'm not too sure. The weight and age have clearly taken something out of him, and Rico with Peter Fury came in with a stellar gameplan. The guy isn't invulnerable, and his best move would be to retire on top while he still can. Otherwise, he has a rough couple of fights ahead.