Rico Verhoeven was promised a ‘top’ ranking by WBC president Mauricio Sulamain after he surprised everyone by not only lasting into the 11th round against Oleksandr Usyk last month, but also making life so difficult for the world heavyweight champion before that.
Today, it has been confirmed with the release of the latest WBC rankings, that Verhoeven, 1-1 (1 KO) is a top 10 heavyweight. According to the sanctioning body, in fact, he is the No. 8 heavyweight contender in the world.
Verhoeven, an acclaimed kickboxer from the Netherlands, was widely expected to be handed a boxing lesson by Usyk, 25-0 (16 KOs), before they clashed in Egypt on May 23. Then all hell broke loose. Verhoeven, employing some hard-to-read herky-jerky approach play, outhustled Usyk over the first six or so rounds before the Ukrainian worked his way back into the contest to force a contentious stoppage in the penultimate round.
There had been calls for a rematch but the WBC, despite their lofty ranking of a heavyweight who hasn’t won a boxing bout since 2014, have remained firm that interim champion, Agit Kabayel, must come next for Usyk. He has 30 days to agree terms with the German or face being stripped of his title.
Verhoeven, meanwhile, sits below Usyk, Kabayel, Tyson Fury, Lawrence Okolie, Moses Itauma, Filip Hrgovic, Anthony Joshua, Frank Sanchez and Deontay Wilder respectively in the latest rankings. However, his losing effort against Usyk is enough to put him above noteworthy contenders like Efe Ajagba (ninth), Richard Riakporhe (10th), Martin Bakole (11th), Bakhodir Jalolov (13th), Otto Wallin (16th), Richard Torrez Jnr (17th) and Michael Hunter (18th).
Verhoeven told BoxingScene last week that he hoped to secure a rematch with Usyk in Amsterdam but he wouldn’t be paying too much attention to any rankings.
“I don’t care where they rank me,” he said. “Just put me in with anybody and I’ll show you where I deserve to be.”