“I don’t mind that the people didn’t know, but I knew we had a good chance against this guy,” Verhoeven told Ring Magazine. “I showed that I can fight and I can box, so I’m ready for anybody. Maybe I didn’t hurt him, but I definitely surprised him with the angles I took at him.”
Traditional promoters will likely have an interest in matching their heavyweights against Rico, as he is now a recognizable crossover name that brings intrigue and attention. The problem is the financial side.
A fighter with a 1-1 boxing record who has lost a stoppage would normally not command a massive guaranteed purse. If promoters paid Rico enormous amounts of money and the event couldn’t generate enough pay-per-view buys or ticket sales to cover both wallets, they could lose heavily on the event.
This is why Riyadh Season changes the equation. Saudi-backed events have shown a willingness to finance spectacle fights and absorb risks that traditional promoters usually shun. Rico’s crossover value, controversy from the Usyk fight and kickboxing fans still make him useful in that environment, even without an established boxing record.
Turki Alalshikh has already expressed interest in a rematch between Usyk and Verhoeven after Usyk may next face WBC interim heavyweight champion Agit Kabayel.
If the rematch is indeed part of the plan, Rico is unlikely to face dangerous contenders in the meantime. Matching him against heavyweights like Moses Itauma or Frank Sanchez would create unnecessary risk before a possible second fight with Usyk.
A loss to a legitimate contender could wipe out the intrigue surrounding Rico’s performance against Usyk and significantly weaken the rematch storyline.
“I just want the biggest fights,” said Verhoeven. “The kickboxing chapter has closed. It’s a new chapter now. The boxing chapter.”
“Greatest Fights” is just promotion shorthand for the largest checks. At age 37 and coming off an 11th-round stoppage loss, he doesn’t have the luxury of time to build a conventional boxing career from the ground up.
Those “biggest fights” probably only become realistic if Saudi money stays attached.
Other than His Highness, there is no market for him at the elite level. Traditional promoters aren’t going to shell out millions for a crossover kickboxer who just got stopped, no matter how competitive he looked on the scorecards before Usyk put him away.
To the regular boxing networks, he’s a high-risk, low-reward opponent who brings a unique style but lacks the foundational boxing pedigree to draw massive casual pay-per-view numbers on his own.
If Riyadh Season loses interest in financing this particular type of spectacle, its options immediately dry up. He either takes a massive pay cut to face mid-level heavyweights on standard cards, or he realizes the boxing experiment was a short-lived, profitable venture and calls it a day.
Unless Turki wants to throw him a leg for a rematch or a fight with someone like Agit Kabayel, where else do you think he might turn for that kind of money?
