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Widely regarded as one of the greatest kickboxers of all time, Verhoeven is looking to make history in a huge crossover blockbuster against no less than Oleksandr Usyk, and in front of the Pyramids of Giza.<\/p>\n
Currently, the Dutchman is a $10 TAB outsider to upset the heavyweight king.<\/p>\n
Usyk, meanwhile, has been wound into only $1.04.<\/p>\n
Sportsbet, meanwhile, has Verhoeven at $14, while Las Vegas oddsmakers have him as wide as +1360.<\/p>\n
Paro ready to be the ‘Croc Hunter’ | 00:41<\/p>\n
Way back in 1990, \u2018Buster\u2019 Douglas shocked the world when he famously kayoed Tyson \u2013 aka, The Baddest Man on the Planet \u2013 inside the Tokyo Dome.<\/p>\n
Only 23 days beforehand, Douglas\u2019s mother, Lula Pearl, died of a stroke aged just 46 \u2013 a tragedy which the American would later say played an emotional role in his win.<\/p>\n
Douglas revealed he had promised his mother he would beat Tyson shortly before she passed, with the fighter then attending her funeral just days before flying to Japan for the biggest night of his life.<\/p>\n
Speaking years later in a documentary about the win, Douglas revealed how it was Lula\u2019s death that inspired him, saying: \u201cI knew she was looking down, happy, saying, \u2018I told you, my baby did it.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t taking no bulls***. This was a different night, baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now this week, Verhoeven has opened up about losing his own mother during camp for the biggest fight of his life, and after paying an emotional tribute by recreating a picture of her at the Pyramids of Giza.<\/p>\n
After facing off with Usyk in front of the ancient landmark a few days back, Verhoeven then posed up for a picture in the same place his mother did over 30 years ago.<\/p>\n
Having revealed that she died while he was in camp, Verhoeven said he came across the pictures shortly after she passed away.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin this camp, my mother passed away,\u201d he told Matchroom Boxing. \u201cHow is it a positive thing? It is not.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I have to do something with it to make it easier for me to cope with.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe passed away and we had to clean out her house. And what happened is, we came by pictures of her being in Egypt. Like, how crazy is that?<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I wanted to recreate that exact picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to be in that spot where she was 30 years prior. Being there was … I don\u2019t know, man, it was just… it was so special. It was so special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netherlands’ Rico Verhoeven. Photo by Khaled DESOUKI \/ AFPSource: AFP<\/p>\n
Verhoeven has since shared the images on Instagram, with the caption: \u201cDear mom, here in Egypt thinking about you. With tears in my eyes I\u2019m writing this because I miss you.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel your presence, thank you for being my guardian angel. You and dad better be watching next week. But I know you will and you\u2019ll protect me. We\u2019ll see each other again. I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Already this week, American heavyweight Jarrell \u2018Big Baby\u2019 Miller has publicly backed Verhoeven to shock the world. And now Hearn has given his take on a task which, the famed UK promoter concedes, is \u201con paper impossible\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking with ESPN this week, Hearn said that while Verhoeven faces huge odds, an upset in one of boxing history\u2019s most extravagant backdrops is not out of the question.<\/p>\n
Quizzed on the unique main event, Hearn started: \u201cThe fight on paper is an impossible mountain to climb for Rico Verhoeven.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo … I\u2019ll re-phrase that \u2026 (impossible) for the normal man.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the reason he\u2019s done what he\u2019s done is because he\u2019s not a normal man.<\/p>\n
\u201cOleksandr Usyk is not just one of the greatest fighters of this generation, but greatest examples to any young fighter, athlete, in terms of the work ethic and mindset.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thank [Usyk] and his team for allowing [Anthony Joshua] into that camp. What I\u2019ve seen up close is the reason he\u2019s undefeated, on top of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow night, this man [Verhoeven], whose arms are like the normal man\u2019s thighs, has an opportunity to, let\u2019s be honest, forge one of the greatest upsets in the history of boxing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might not be to him … but it will be on paper if he was to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019ll tell you something, if there was ever anything dramatic, ever anything strange to happen, it\u2019s going to happen at the foot of the Pyramids in Egypt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk and Netherlands’ Rico Verhoeven. Photo by Khaled DESOUKI \/ AFPSource: AFP<\/p>\n
Speaking with The Ring this week, the underdog also spoke about readying to not only fight the greatest heavyweight alive, but honour his late mum.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was definitely something quite special,\u201d Verhoeven said of recreating the photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really thankful that I got the time to do that, to experience that and really be in that moment and create that.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially these last years, it was hard for her to be at the events. A lot of times she was just watching on TV, and I know now she\u2019s with me everywhere, so that\u2019s a really nice and comfortable feeling. I feel blessed to have her as my guardian angel right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Verhoeven added that having his mother as his guardian angel has given him strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have to worry about anything,\u201d he continued. \u201cI know the people that I love are here. It\u2019s just enjoying the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two fighters met at the final news conference in Cairo on Thursday and Verhoeven insisted he will present Usyk with a unique challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m bringing something that he hasn\u2019t seen before because he\u2019s only faced boxers. And they\u2019ve been boxing their whole life — I haven\u2019t,\u201d Verhoeven said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s just a whole different approach. It\u2019s God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow we\u2019re going to win? We\u2019ll see. If it\u2019s a knockout, it\u2019s a knockout. If it\u2019s a decision, it\u2019s a decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it comes to a decision and I win\u2026 wow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn says Dutch kickboxer Rico Verhoeven is capable of earning one of the greatest upsets in boxing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-685348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}