RICO VERHOEVEN'S LEAP from kickboxing to challenging for boxing's world heavyweight title may seem like it has happened overnight, but he has been working in the background for years with the help of a familiar name... Fury.
Verhoeven, 37, challenges the imperious Oleksandr Usyk, 39, for his WBC heavyweight title in front of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt on Saturday, in what will remarkably be only his second professional boxing bout.
But Verhoeven, who held the GLORY kickboxing heavyweight title for 12 years and is unbeaten in his main sport since 2015, is not a total boxing rookie.
The Dutchman was sparring former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury over a decade ago and has been working with Tyson's uncle Peter Fury for even longer as a boxing coach.
Verhoeven's secretive journey in boxing towards the Usyk fight includes true believers in his ability to cause an upset, but there is also an ex-sparring partner who insist it shouldn't be happening. This is the inside-story of Verhoeven's rise alongside the Furys.
PETER, IN PARTICULAR, has played a key role in the Dutchman's boxing development and will be in the corner when Verhoeven switches combat codes to challenge two-time undisputed heavyweight champion Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs), who beat Tyson twice on points in 2024.
"We have known each other 15 years or more," Peter Fury told ESPN.
"I remember him starting out, and I got to know him through my good friend Dennis Krauweel, his kickboxing trainer. We always work as a team and every time Rico fights he would come into training to work with me for a couple of weeks and we would work on his boxing skills. In 2010 or 2011, he used to live in Belgium and I used to work with him five days a week then, and that went on for a few years. He's trained with me a long time now so he knows how to box and he has incorporated it into his kickboxing. He knows not to load up with his punches, he knows how to throw a jab, so it's not like he's a novice or just starting out."
Twelve years ago, Verhoeven won his only pro boxing match to date, a Round 2 KO against an opponent who had already lost each of his five fights and later retired with a 0-6 record. There was little sign of what might come.
"This isn't a kickboxer who can't move," Peter Fury warns. "He has a lot going for him, he's very big and he's a smart lad. But he's still coming over to a completely new sport and it's going to be a big leap to go straight into elite boxing, so we can't cover everything in training. He has a lot of skill already, we can't cover everything before the fight but we will concentrate on certain attributes.
"It's going to be an enjoyable event, no one is going to be under any pressure and Rico will be in the best position he has ever been boxing-wise. I'm going to be putting his gumshield in while looking at the pyramids, it's going to be unforgettable."
Tyson Fury has also been an influential figure in Verhoeven's career. He sparred with Verhoeven in the Netherlands and Bolton, England, ahead of Fury's points triumph over Wladimir Klitschko for the IBF, WBA, and WBO world heavyweight titles in Germany in 2015, when his uncle Peter was also his trainer.
In the following years, Verhoeven continued to work with Peter Fury, who has prepared him for Usyk at a camp close to Rotterdam in his homeland.
Verhoeven has not forgotten those painful but educational early sparring sessions with Tyson Fury, who switched stances and was difficult to hit.
Verhoeven recalls that when he first sparred Tyson wearing a headguard, both of his eyes were swollen and closed by pinpoint punches from the 'Gypsy King' over six gruelling rounds.
Verhoeven told ESPN: "It goes back a long time, even before I was champion, Tyson was in training camp in the Netherlands, I think for a fight against David Haye [which never happened after it was twice cancelled in 2013], and they were looking for sparring partners. It was always a headache to find good sparring, and I always wanted to work on my boxing, so when I heard there was this big boxer, I said 'let's go.' We did the sparring... I got two black eyes, and I was like 'wow,' I didn't know what happened.
"But I thought 'this is what I need, I want to get better.' I kept going, doing 10 or 12 rounds with Tyson Fury, and I got better. I started transitioning from just being a sparring partner to being a training partner, and Peter Fury took the time to make me better -- because the better I got the better it was for everyone in camp.
"That's how it started, and I've been working with Peter Fury ever since and he has been a part of my camp for the last 15 years. The boxing has been an add-on, to get better, understanding the distance and movement. I was boxing then for a kickboxer, but now it is just for boxing."
THE FORMER HEAVYWEIGHT kickboxing champion is 6-foot-5, 270 pounds and will have height and weight advantages against the 6-foot-3 Usyk, who tipped the scales at 227 pounds for his last fight in July. But Usyk will start as an overwhelming favourite.
"For me it's a challenge. Rico is a great guy, a dangerous guy," Usyk said.
Peter Fury told ESPN: "Rico is versatile, and he's a big heavyweight. He's agile, has a lot of power, he can be elusive and he can box. He's been sparring with seasoned heavyweights like my son Hughie, and a lot of people are going to be surprised by him."
As well as Tyson and Hughie Fury, who he calls "an amazing, talented boxer," Verhoeven has also sparred with WBC No. 1 contender Agit Kabayel of Germany, and Dillian Whyte, who Tyson Fury stopped in a title defence in 2022.
British heavyweight Dave Allen also remembers working with Verhoeven.
"I sparred him in 2014 when he was over training with Peter, I was a young kid at the time, a novice with only six professional fights and only one amateur fight," Allen told ESPN.
"He was a good boxer back then, and he's a lovely fella, a legend in kickboxing. But I'm not a massive fan of this fight vs. Usyk. I don't think it should be happening, and it shouldn't have been sanctioned for the WBC title, it should be an exhibition."
Tom Aspinall, the UFC heavyweight champion, has also traded punches with Verhoeven in the gym.
"Am I saying that he's a better boxer than Usyk? No. There's no one on the planet who's a better boxer than Usyk," Aspinall told The Ring. "Do I think he's going to win? It's tough for me to sit here and be honest and be like 'Rico is going to win the fight easily,' but do I think he's got a chance? Absolutely, I think Rico's got a chance. The guy is so mentally strong, so confident and he's done so much in his career in kickboxing. He absolutely has a chance of winning."
Verhoeven told ESPN: "For Usyk, I'm happy to have Peter in my corner and we are going to shape a game plan and shock the boxing world.
"I have been training for all types of heavyweights for years. I understand that for people who don't know my story it was a shock to hear me fighting Usyk. I've been around the block."
VERHOEVEN WAS IN Saudi Arabia to cheer on Fury against Usyk when Hollywood star Jason Statham convinced him to give boxing another go. Later, Statham played an unexpected role in putting Usyk vs. Verhoeven together.
"He started talking to His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority] about me, he just planted the seed," Verhoeven told ESPN.
He says he will enjoy the challenge of attempting to pull off what will undoubtedly be the biggest upset in heavyweight title history if he wins. The WBC belt is at stake but, as if to emphasise the peculiarity of this fight, the IBF and WBA have announced conditions which prohibit Verhoeven from leaving with their titles even if he wins.
"Usyk is a champion like me," Verhoeven said. "I just want to do stuff that hasn't been done before. For me every time I want to go forward it has to be fresh snow. I want to put the bar as high as possible for the next generation in kickboxing. That's what gets me going. Fighting Usyk in this particular setting, wow, it's a true blessing. I just love the challenge."
Verhoeven insists he "understands what people say" about the controversial nature of a one-fight novice getting a shot at the undefeated WBC champion, but notes that his unique kickboxing style can do no worse than the six combined failed attempts to topple Usyk from Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois.
"I'm not here to convince people I deserve to be here," he said. "The WBC looked at who I am as a martial artist and they thought it was sufficient to sanction it as a title fight. I have been dominating my own sport for over a decade and now I'm up for a new challenge, and that challenge is Oleksandr Usyk in front of millions, of millions of people."