Rico Verhoeven: 'Jason Statham is the new Eddie Hearn'

“Whoever Jason wants,” smiled Rico Verhoeven. “He’s like the new Eddie Hearn.”

The Dutchman was talking about his movie star friend Jason Statham, who was so influential in landing Verhoeven’s fight at the Pyramids in Egypt against Oleksandr Usyk a week ago.

Verhoeven pushed Usyk hard until the stoppage came with a second left in the 11th round after it appeared a huge shock could be possible.

This week, Verhoeven, one of the great kickboxers of all time who had fought just once – 12 years ago – as a professional boxer before challenging for the world heavyweight championship, declared he was now the “uncrowned king” of the heavyweight division, and he felt he should have been allowed to carry on into the final round, although he had been dropped heavily, was fatigued and under fire at the end.

Verhoeven and Statham met on the set of Beekeeper, which Statham starred in in 2024.

“That’s what it was,” confirmed Verhoeven. “The friends of mine saw I was in London and they were on the stunt team of 87Eleven. They said, ‘Hey, we’re in London as well. We’re shooting the movie Beekeeper with Jason. He’s a huge martial arts fan. Come and visit us. He would love to meet you.’ I went down. Jason was like, ‘Oh my god, Rico, you’re here. I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re here as well. I’m a huge fan.’” We clicked. We exchanged numbers and ever since, we stayed in touch. I came to visit him on set. He came and supported me in fights. And, yeah, that’s how our friendship started.”

There is a chance that the towering Dutchman will follow Statham into films, and that is something he is interested in.

“100 per cent,” Verhoeven added. “He knows I want to be in the movies as well. So, first of all, he got me into this big fight. That meant the world to me.”

Verhoeven’s favourite Statham flick is Safe, by the way, and he seemed to only half joke when his next opponent would be whoever Statham saw fit to pair him with next. 

Another person, however, that Verhoeven hopes will be involved in his future is Saudi Arabian boxing financier Turki Alalshikh. 

Usyk-Verhoeven may have been Statham’s brainchild but it was Alalshikh’s deep pockets that actually enabled it.

Is Verhoeven going to fight for him again next?

“I hope so,” said the 37-year-old. “He made this possible. So, I’m incredibly thankful for that. So, I definitely want to give him the first opportunity to do something. But we’ve been getting reach-outs from all over the world.”

The fight Verhoeven most covets is a return with the Ukrainian great and he would like it at home.

“Amsterdam would be amazing,” Verhoeven said. “Amsterdam Arena. Sixty-thousand [fans]. I think that would definitely get the record of biggest martial art event in the Netherlands ever.”

Verhoeven, who likely made more in the Usyk fight than he had in his career to date, said the despite the windfall, he had no regrets about not giving boxing more of his attention years ago.

“The dream was always to be a kickboxing champion,” he explained. “This was the right time. I try to believe that everything happens for a reason.”

One of the names now being mentioned for Verhoeven is a bout with Francis Ngannou, the MMA star who has fought Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in boxing matches with mixed success.

Asked why Ngannou dropped and gave Fury fits but was blasted out by Joshua, Verhoeven said: “Maybe Joshua took it dead serious. Yeah, Tyson was playing more of a game around it.”
While kickboxing has been his first love, Verhoeven has always enjoyed boxing. He was a fan of the Klitschkos (he preferred the relaxed and technical Wladimir over Vitali) and has gone back and watched tapes of the likes of Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, although he will only take so much from them.

“I’ve looked at everything,” he said. “But then you just, if you look at the older fights, and you look at the fighters now, they just evolved so much. That’s why I said, yeah, but what if Ali would have lived now? It’s just like a different time. Everything is different. I believe that the athletes of today are so much better than the athletes of 20 years ago.” 

And while he might know boxing, he refuses to answer whether he feels his p[performance against Usyk should see him ranked as one of the world’s best 10 heavyweights.

“It’s not up to me,” he stated. “I don’t care. Like I said, I don’t care where they rank me. Just put me in with anybody and I’ll show you where I deserve to be. Because I was, like, super close to beating the very best that has ever done it. And Usyk’s beat Joshua twice, beat Fury twice, beat Dubois twice. So let’s get it.”
He said he only used a few tools from his toolbox and that there is plenty more that boxing fans have yet to see.  

“I definitely didn’t show everything. I just showed what worked for this specific opponent,” he said.

What Verhoeven said he did have to change, however, was hjis conditioning, and that the transitioning to be ready for 12 three-minute rounds was the biggest challenge.

It was that that ultimately caused him to unravel so late in the 11th. Caught by a right uppercut, he dropped heavily and was struggling to defend himself as Usyk followed up.

“I was pushing it so much the whole time. I was totally feeling it,” he admitted. “Especially with the scorecards being so tied up [he was level on two and ahead on the third]. If he lands one, I have to land three. It’s going to be a hard night to catch up.”

Of course, Verhoeven was widely overlooked beforehand, certainly by the boxing consiglieri who condemned the bout as a freakshow.
“It says more about them than it says about me,” Verhoeven said, and he believes he may have opened the floodgates for more crossover fights.

“Definitely. More kickboxers can do it. Not all of them, but I think definitely a handful can,” he said. “We have some good fighters. We have some good boxers in different weight classes. I’m excited to see what we’ve opened up for martial arts in general. If it’s MMA or if it’s kickboxing or whatever. The landscape of crossover fights is open now.”