Rico Verhoeven: The Brabantian Bulldozer-The Locomotive of the Lowlands-The King of Kickboxing.

Ricardo Verhoeven, born April 10th 1989 is a 6'5 Heavyweight, with a 1-1 (1 KO) record in boxing and a 66-10 (21 KO) record in kickboxing. Born in Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands and fighting out of Halsteren, Netherlands. I know boxing fans can be awfully clannish, stubbornly living in a somewhat insular world of make believe. Never allowing themselves to even ponder the notion that maybe someone from another combat sport could waltz into the sport that we hold dear and take over. Which granted, I've always tended to be one of those guys. But I quickly picked up on the distinction here when the match against Usyk was announced. After watching several matches of Rico's. This was no ground and pound huggy bear that gropes his opponents into submission or some inept one dimensional judo armbar applying one trick pony. No, the man is a professional kickboxer, as in grappling and mauling is prohibited. It's literally exactly the same as professional boxing, they share the same foundational punching techniques. The only difference is, they're allowed to throw kicks, knees and occasional elbows. If you drop an opponent, the ref gives them a count, you don't jump on them and hammerfist them into a bloody pulp. You either win by fair and square KO or decision.

So please, do yourselves a favor and wrap your heads around the fact that the following fighters, all got their start in kickboxing and transitioned to boxing seamlessly. Vitali Klitschko, Jarrell Miller, Chris Algieri, Dillian Whyte, Nieky Holzken, Chantelle Cameron, Sergey Lipinets, Caleb Plant, Ricky Hatton, Marco Huck, Tenshin Nasukawa, Lauren Price and Alexander Povetkin. None of them were world beaters as kickboxers, but Rico was. The man has had a 21 year career, which includes a staggering 12 year undefeated streak, Usyk is his only loss in over a decade. He was the GLORY HW Champion over a decade, won the 2024 GLORY Grand Prix, 2021 GLORY 77 HW Tournament, 2014 HW Tournament. He's defended his title in 14 wins, won 27 matches straight and holds the GLORY record of most total wins with 28. He's been awarded GLORY Fighter of the Year in 2017 and 2024. KO of the year in 2017, FOTY in 2021 and Highlight of the year in 2019. So why is it so hard to process that a man with these kind of accolades and qualifications, who's a generational talent, who trains with Peter Fury and regularly spars with Tyson Fury, Hughie Fury, Dillian Whyte, Dave Allen and Agit Kabayel, could make the transition against the best of the best in our beloved sport and almost pull off the upset?

So it's high time people started putting respect on his name and come to terms with the fact that he very well could be here to stay. But not only that, is more than capable of becoming a boxing world champion who yes, can beat plenty Top 20 fighters, if not many Top 10. It wasn't because Usyk had an off night, it's because Rico is a smart fighter and together with a very smart trainer like Peter Fury, came up with the perfect game plan to damned near topple a Boxing God like Usyk. So for people to naively think that they're incapable of coming up with equally intelligent plans against far more rudimentary fighters, that's sheer folly! It wasn't just because styles make fights, no... he tailored his style to beat Usyk. Usyk found it damn hard to time him or find openings, because his upper body and head movement along with air tight high guard defense was that damned good. The pace his set was relentless, only an iron man like Usyk could keep up with it and even he had problems with it. Does anyone think these muscle bound behemoths could really go at that intense a pace for 4 or 5 rounds without gassing out, mentally crumbling and emotionally wilting?

We just saw what happened when a world class fighter with world class conditioning, elite ring IQ, and over 2 decades of experience fighting dangerous opponents, who has spent years mastering distance, timing, feints, pressure, punch selection, insane work rate, angles and maintaining his composure while under fire, can accomplish. Who happens to have one of the best gas tanks in combat sports, a piston like jab and an iron chin with excellent powers of recovery. The man gets kicked in the head for a living and has come back to win fights after being hurt or dropped on several occasions. He possesses almost all of the physical attributes that heavyweight boxing desperately values. He's a monster of a man, with good looks, charisma, an entertaining style, who became the face of his sport, not by accident, but by design. As a first rate tactician, who systematically dismantles his opponents, taking them apart round after round. He accomplished all of this by being extremely disciplined, super intelligent, relentless, and with an extraordinarily difficult to break will. Now he's in a sport where he doesn't have to worry about being kicked in the head. All he has to do is focus on throwing hands! Prepare Yourselves for the coming of King Rico The Nightmare of the Netherlands!


Educate Yourselves
Verhoeven vs. Usyk

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Verhoeven vs. Jamal Ben Saddik III

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Verhoeven vs. Artem Vakhitov

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Verhoeven vs. Levi Rigters I

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Verhoeven vs. Rigters II

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Corrected!

 

Now when was I ever on Ngannou's hype train? You know better than that Lance!

 

Well, I did make the thread! I also made a point to delineate the two in terms of fighting style in my write up. I'm also super cautious when it comes to hyping anyone, but I think a lot of the nuance has been lacking in most of the debates about what Rico brings to the table and how far he can get in this sport.