Rico Verhoeven Wants More Boxing After Pushing Oleksandr Usyk to the Brink
Kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven says he is ready to shake up the boxing world again after his controversial loss to Oleksandr Usyk in May.
Rico Verhoeven is not done with boxing. The 37-year-old kickboxing legend posted on Instagram this week that he is ready to "shake up the boxing world a little more," sharing a clip of Joe Rogan praising his performance against Oleksandr Usyk, per LowKick MMA.
Verhoeven gave Usyk the scare of his career in May 2026. Fighting in only his second professional boxing match (his first was back in 2014), Verhoeven dominated most of the contest, pushing Usyk onto the back foot for nearly the entire fight. The bout ended on a controversial TKO referee stoppage in round 11.
The scorecards told the story of how close it was. One judge had Verhoeven winning 96-94, while the other two had it even at 95-95 at the time of the stoppage. For a kickboxer with almost no professional boxing experience to push one of the greatest boxers of the modern era that far, the performance shocked the sport.
No specific opponent or timeline has been announced for Verhoeven's next boxing appearance. But his post made his intentions clear: he believes he belongs in the ring, and the Usyk performance proved it.
The question now is who would be willing to take the risk. Verhoeven showed power, durability, and a chin that held up deep into a championship-level fight. Any heavyweight or cruiserweight promoter paying attention should have him on their radar.
I was one of the people who wrote Verhoeven off before the Usyk fight, and I was dead wrong. That man went in there with a guy most people consider the best pound-for-pound boxer alive and nearly beat him in a boxing match. The scorecards said it all: two judges had it even heading into the 11th.
The problem for Verhoeven is that the boxing establishment does not want to give him the fights that would matter. He proved he can hang at the highest level, but the big names will avoid him because there is zero upside in fighting a kickboxer who can beat you. He needs a promoter willing to push him into meaningful fights, not just another one-off spectacle. If someone gives him that runway, he could genuinely be a problem at heavyweight.
