Rico Verhoeven has thought of the thought of dealing with Tyson Fury, with whom he has sparred quite a few rounds and whose uncle, Peter Fury, simply so occurs to be his head coach.
The 37-year-old got here remarkably near pulling off a monumental upset final Saturday, solely to undergo an Eleventh-round stoppage defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
Throughout their contest, although, many would have been scratching their heads as Usyk, on the very least, gave the impression to be making onerous work of the duty at hand.
Beforehand, many had predicted that the Ukrainian would dispatch his opponent inside a number of rounds, solely to seek out that Verhoeven was a far stronger competitor than anticipated.
On the time of the stoppage, the Dutch kickboxer had constructed a slight lead on one of many judges’ scorecards, whereas the opposite two had it 95-95 earlier than Usyk floored his man with an uppercut.
The 39-year-old’s stoppage victory was then facilitated by referee Mark Lyson, permitting him to retain his WBC, IBF and WBA world titles.
Naturally, Verhoeven is eager to face Usyk in a direct rematch, however might must discover various choices whereas the heavyweight king considers a title defence towards WBC ‘interim’ champion Agit Kabayel.
When launched to an inventory of potential opponents, nevertheless, Verhoeven informed BoxingScene {that a} conflict with ‘The Gypsy King’ might show problematic.
“I might battle him, however I don’t suppose that will make an excessive amount of sense with my relationship with Peter [Fury]. But when that battle was offered to me, it’s what it’s.”
Whereas not fairly ruling out the potential for dealing with Fury, Verhoeven is nonetheless unlikely to pursue a conflict with the nephew of his coach.
