The sparring material shows Verhoeven on the front foot from the start. He walked off Fury, ignoring the constant feints and continued working to get close enough to land. Fury circled, jabbed and flashed that Ali-style move from camp as Verhoeven continued to step in without hesitation.
He also committed. Several right hands landed cleanly, and at times Fury tied him up to slow the advance. That willingness to push through the motions and take the risk separated Verhoeven’s approach from what was seen later that year in Düsseldorf.
The comparison with Klitschko’s performance later that year is inevitable. Klitschko approached the Düsseldorf fight cautiously, circling and waiting while rarely committing to sustained combinations. Fury disrupted the rhythm with movement and activity and took a decision in a fight defined by limited engagement. The champion never asserted himself with authority.
Verhoeven’s instinct in the gym was different. He moved forward, testing distance and accepting exchanges rather than conceding initiative. That mindset now becomes part of the discussion as he is scheduled to challenge Usyk on May 23 at the Pyramids of Giza in a voluntary defense sanctioned by the WBC. Verhoeven enters without a professional boxing record, and the sanctioning framework allows champions to choose voluntary opponents outside of the mandatory rotation, which is how this fight was approved.
Usyk is simply the more polished fighter. He benefited from a long professional amateur career, facing many high-level fighters. Rico is having none of that and will have to focus on using his strength and toughness to try and win.
If Verhoeven stays on the outside, he is picked apart by Usyk. His only real option is to get in Usyk’s face from the first bell and deal the punches he will take to get there. While that aggressive style can create openings and turn the fight into a scrap, sustaining that kind of intensity for half an hour against a champion accustomed to that level of fatigue is exhausting.
Usyk is the favorite because he has the stamina to outlast anyone. Verhoeven’s shot at an upset depends entirely on how much impact he can make in the first few minutes and whether he can still throw with power once his lungs start burning in the later rounds.
UNSEEN PHOTO: With Rico Verhoeven set to fight Oleksandr Usyk for the WBC heavyweight title, relive when Verhoeven spared Tyson Fury in the build-up to his triumph over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 💥 pic.twitter.com/lsLZXQzzns
— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) March 3, 2026
