{"id":611598,"date":"2026-05-30T06:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/611598\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T06:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:20:12","slug":"rico-verhoeven-reveals-7ft-giant-hit-him-hardest-not-oleksandr-usyk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/611598\/","title":{"rendered":"Rico Verhoeven reveals 7ft giant hit him hardest – not Oleksandr Usyk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oleksandr Usyk avoided a monumental upset on Saturday when he came from behind to stop Rico Verhoeven in the eleventh round.<\/p>\n

Trailing on one scorecard and level on the other two<\/a> heading into the penultimate frame, Usyk picked out a perfectly timed lead uppercut that sent ‘The King of Kickboxing’ hurtling into the ropes.<\/p>\n

\"Verhoeven<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Verhoeven was stopped in the eleventh round by Usyk after a spirited effortCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The shot scrambled Verhoeven’s senses, and while he was able to beat the count, the Dutchman was subsequently stopped on his feet.<\/p>\n

Some felt that referee Mark Lyson had jumped in too early<\/a>, although there was no doubting that Verhoeven was on unsteady legs.<\/p>\n

Having tasted the best Usyk could dish out, Verhoeven acknowledges that the Ukrainian can certainly punch.<\/p>\n

But he isn’t the hardest hitter he has ever faced.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON BOXING <\/p>\n

“He’s a very technical and intelligent fighter, and his power is good,” Verhoeven said of Usyk during an exclusive interview with talkSPORT.com.<\/p>\n

“Nothing crazy, but he has a punch on him.<\/p>\n

“He’s not the hardest I have been hit by; that would be Semmy Schilt.<\/p>\n

“He hit way harder; he was a big guy with a lot of power.”<\/p>\n

Who is Semmy Schilt? <\/p>\n

To say Semmy Schilt is a ‘big guy’ is somewhat of an understatement.<\/p>\n

Standing 6ft 11 1\/2ins tall and weighing 290lbs, Schilt is a mountain of a man.<\/p>\n

\"Schilt<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Schilt packed a punch worthy of a man of his sizeCredit: Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The aptly nicknamed ‘Hightower’ is also one of the most decorated kickboxers of all time. <\/p>\n

Schilt is a former K-1 super heavyweight champion, Glory Kickboxing heavyweight titlist, and a four-time K-1 World Grand Prix winner. <\/p>\n

He enjoyed a fruitful stint in MMA as well, where he won the Pancrase Openweight title, before going on to compete in the UFC<\/a> and PRIDE FC.<\/p>\n

What happened when Verhoeven fought Schilt?<\/p>\n

Verhoeven met his compatriot, Schilt, in the semi-finals of the Glory Kickboxing Grand Slam tournament in December 2012.<\/p>\n

‘The King of Kickboxing’ was just 23 years old and a year off the start of his legendary 12-year reign as Glory heavyweight champion, while Schilt was in the twilight of his career at 39.<\/p>\n

Verhoeven got off to a strong start, forcing Schilt onto his heels early, but as the fight wore on, the towering veteran began to find a home for his ram-rodding jab and crushing teep kick.<\/p>\n

\"Schilt<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Schilt is one of the most decorated kickboxers and beat Verhoeven in 2012Credit: Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Schilt dropped Verhoeven midway through the opening stanza with a massive knee, but it was wrongfully ruled a slip.<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

A big left hook then wobbled Verhoeven in the second round as Schilt poured on the pressure en route to a unanimous decision win. <\/p>\n

The defeat to Schilt proved to be the turning point in Verhoeven’s career, with the generational great going on to win 28 of his next 29 fights. <\/p>\n

Watch Boxing on DAZN<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

*If you click a link in this boxout, we will earn affiliate revenue<\/p>\n

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Click here to sign up<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk avoided a monumental upset on Saturday when he came from behind to stop Rico Verhoeven in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,6102,30717,208037,122663,4036,112713,208036,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-611598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-glory","tag-k-1","tag-kickboxing","tag-oleksandr-usyk","tag-rico-verhoeven","tag-semmy-schilt","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}