Rico Verhoeven Fires Back At Usyk Fight Critics

Ex-Glory Kickboxing heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven has shut down criticism over his fight with unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on May 23.

Critics have pointed to Verhoeven’s sparse professional boxing resume—a lone knockout victory back in 2014—as evidence that he is out of his depth. However, Verhoeven revealed that his boxing education has been a decade-and-a-half-long.

Rico’s partnership with Peter Fury, who helped Tyson Fury beat Wladimir Klitschko, is not a recent development. Verhoeven has been traveling to training camps in Belgium and the UK since his teens. Rico credits that as the secret ingredient to his 12-year dominance in GLORY Kickboxing. 

The bout with Usyk has faced significant pushback from the boxing establishment, particularly after the WBC’s “U-turn” to sanction the match as an official voluntary title defense. This move effectively sidelined top contenders like WBC mandatory challenger Agit Kabayel. Verhoeven, however, remains completely unbothered by the backlash from the boxing community.

WBC Reacts

“After careful consideration, the WBC Board of Governors has ruled in favor of sanctioning WBC World Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk’s voluntary title defense against legendary kickboxing Champion Rico Verhoeven,” Rico Verhoeven

“The transition from being a kickboxer to boxing — I’ve been boxing for the last 15 years. Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, Peter Fury has been added to Team Rico.’ Guys, I’ve been training with Peter Fury for the last 15 years. Back in the day, just coming as a sparring partner for Tyson Fury, and just being there constantly, putting in the work, and getting better. Turning from a sparring partner into a training partner. That’s also one of the key elements that made me such a good kickboxer,” Rico said