{"id":199221,"date":"2026-05-22T05:25:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/05\/22\/how-a-kickboxing-legend-stathams-pal-landed-a-shot-at-usyk\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T05:25:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:25:42","slug":"how-a-kickboxing-legend-stathams-pal-landed-a-shot-at-usyk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/05\/22\/how-a-kickboxing-legend-stathams-pal-landed-a-shot-at-usyk\/","title":{"rendered":"How a kickboxing legend & Statham’s pal landed a shot at Usyk"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

If Saturday delivers the most astonishing upset boxing has ever seen, the history books will have Jason Statham to thank.<\/b><\/p>\n

A chance encounter with Hollywood’s go-to hard man has somehow landed Dutchman Rico Verhoeven – a kickboxing legend with just one professional boxing bout to his name – an unlikely WBC world title shot against heavyweight great Oleksandr Usyk in Egypt.<\/p>\n

It began when Verhoeven bumped into Briton Statham – a close ally of Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh – in Las Vegas in September 2024, during the Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez v Terence Crawford fight week.<\/p>\n

“I know you can beat a lot of these guys, or maybe everybody,” Verhoeven says Statham told him. “I said: ‘Yeah, 100%’.”<\/p>\n

By the next morning, things had escalated. Verhoeven was mid-run on a treadmill when Statham called him.<\/p>\n

“‘Yo, bro, I put your name out there. They loved it. They’re down. They want to do it. They’re going to reach out, I give them your number,'” Verhoeven says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Verhoeven was originally set to face Anthony Joshua but, when the Briton’s career was stalled by a serious car accident in November, something even bigger emerged.<\/p>\n

On paper, Verhoeven challenging Usyk – a pound-for-pound great and one of the most complete fighters of his era – for the WBC title is absurd.<\/p>\n

But Verhoeven believes his inexperience and unpredictability could turn what many see as impossible into reality.<\/p>\n

“Usyk has pulled the puzzle of boxing out and put it back together, but I’m not a traditional boxer – I’m a kickboxer,” he tells BBC Sport.<\/p>\n

“My stance is different, my movement is different and I am a naturally big, athletic guy. When I hit him, he’s going to feel a natural 20-kilo weight difference.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Verhoeven is an A-list fixture in his home country, and recently wrapped filming on Road House 2 alongside Jake Gyllenhaal. His inner circle includes Kevin Hart and Max Verstappen, and even the King of the Netherlands is a fan.<\/p>\n

Away from Formula One paddocks and movie sets, Verhoeven’s story began amid a turbulent childhood in Bergen op Zoom, near the Belgian border. Raised initially by his mother, who struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, he moved in with his father aged six.<\/p>\n

“My dad came from Kyokushin karate,” Verhoeven says. “He got injured, started boxing, started kickboxing and people started asking him to teach.”<\/p>\n

His father coached with intense, unrelenting discipline.<\/p>\n

“Back then you’re like, ‘why can’t I do this? All my friends are going to the swimming pool tonight. I got to go and train’. Back then it didn’t make too much sense to me, but now I’m super thankful because those were the fundamentals of the discipline I have today.”<\/p>\n

Despite experiencing periods of painful distance, Verhoeven reconciled with his father before his death. <\/p>\n

He also rebuilt his bond with his mother, who passed away earlier this year during his training camp. Processing that grief has provided a sharp perspective on his own role as a parent.<\/p>\n

“Now especially having my own kids, it is [about] how are you going balance that,” Verhoeven says.<\/p>\n

“What are you going to project on them that worked for you? And what are you going project on them that didn’t work for you?”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Verhoeven’s dominance in kickboxing is difficult to overstate. <\/p>\n

He held the Glory heavyweight world title for 12 years in a reign spanning more than 4,000 days.<\/p>\n

His obsession began aged nine while watching fellow Dutchman Peter Aerts win a world title – the very hero Verhoeven would eventually defeat years later.<\/p>\n

Because of his size, finding teenage opponents proved impossible, forcing him to wait until he was 16 to enter the adult ranks. <\/p>\n

Within two fights, managers were queuing for his signature and, by 2013, he was the youngest heavyweight world champion in two decades.<\/p>\n

Although few question Verhoeven’s standing in combat sports, many boxing fans have questioned how he has been handed a world title shot before contenders who have spent years climbing the rankings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Verhoeven, however, defends the WBC’s decision, insisting the bout is entirely justified.<\/p>\n

“Like what Oleksandr did within boxing, I did within kickboxing for 12 years,” he says. “Defeat everybody and some people multiple times.<\/p>\n

“The WBC is also the only organisation that looks at kickboxing and Muay Thai. So for them, they recognised and gave me my credentials.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Despite limited experience, Verhoeven is no stranger to the sweet science. <\/p>\n

For more than 15 years he has trained under Peter Fury and sparred Tyson Fury, Dillian Whyte and UFC champion Tom Aspinall.<\/p>\n

“Rico has been boxing with us a long time and he punches like a boxer,” Peter Fury says.<\/p>\n

“It’s always been about boxing to help with his kickboxing, but now it’s all about boxing. <\/p>\n

“It’s great because it’s intriguing for me to see how he can adapt with such a great champion.”<\/p>\n

There have been plenty of stars to cross the divide between combat sports, only to find boxing is a specialist’s game. <\/p>\n

MMA fighters Francis Ngannou and Conor McGregor are notable examples, though neither enjoyed the sustained dominance Verhoeven achieved in kickboxing.<\/p>\n

Verhoeven says the hardest transition has been adjusting to the tempo.<\/p>\n

“Kickboxing is so short and the fight is over. <\/p>\n

“Now I understand that boxing is more of an art. You have 12 rounds to paint your masterpiece. I love that mindset.”<\/p>\n

And if that painting is completed in the shadow of the pyramids, he knows exactly who to thank.<\/p>\n

“The way I’m going to repay Jason is by doing what I told him I’m going to do,” Verhoeven says. “And that’s to make history.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If Saturday delivers the most astonishing upset boxing has ever seen, the history books will have Jason Statham to thank. A chance encounter with Hollywood’s go-to hard man has somehow landed Dutchman Rico Verhoeven – a kickboxing legend with just one professional boxing bout to his name – an unlikely WBC world title shot against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nHow a kickboxing legend & Statham's pal landed a shot at Usyk - Tahrir News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/05\/22\/how-a-kickboxing-legend-stathams-pal-landed-a-shot-at-usyk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How a kickboxing legend & Statham's pal landed a shot at Usyk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If Saturday delivers the most astonishing upset boxing has ever seen, the history books will have Jason Statham to thank. 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