The fighter who almost defeated the great Oleksandr Usyk is now ready to shake up the boxing world again.

The man in question is Rico Verhoeven, who had only one pro boxing fight before facing Usyk, and it was back in 2014. Not much was expected of the legendary kickboxer when he was scheduled to take on the Ukrainian in a bout that took place in May 2026.

However, Usyk was put on the back foot for almost the entirety of the fight, until a controversial referee stoppage in the 11th round resulted in the Dutchman losing via TKO. Although Verhoeven clearly won most of the rounds, only one judge had him ahead on the scorecards (96-94), while the other two scored it even (95-95).

Rico Verhoeven handed Oleksandr Usyk a major scare (Image: @usykaa/X)

Verhoeven’s performance sent shockwaves through the boxing community as he had handed one of the greatest boxers of all time a massive scare.

And now it looks like the 37-year-old is down for more. Taking to Instagram, while sharing a clip of Joe Rogan raining praises on his performance while also being baffled by the way the fight and the scorecards panned out, Verhoeven wrote:

Lets shake up the boxing world a little more.

Check out Rico Verhoeven’s post below:

Rico Verhoeven’s announcement comes in the wake of Heavyweight Boxing Jeopardy Elsewhere

There is chaos going on in boxing’s heavyweight division between two of the biggest stars in the sport. Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are set to fight on the 11th of December, 2026, at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

However, Fury continues to claim that Joshua and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, would withdraw from the bout, eventually jeopardizing the super fight. The Gypsy King’s accusation stems from Hearn’s ongoing feud with UFC CEO Dana White.

Fury even gave the fight a 1% chance of happening in a recent interview with IFLTVBoxing.

Check out Tyson Fury’s comments below:

Gerard Crispin

Gerard Crispin is an editor and writer with expertise across MMA, Football, Tennis, Cricket, NBA and F1. He has published over 3500 articles in Combat Sports, across multiple websites, viz. Sportskeeda, FanSided MMA, MediaReferee, FirstSportz and PFSN. Crispin currently covers UFC for LowKickMMA.