{"id":611796,"date":"2026-05-30T09:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T09:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/611796\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T09:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T09:20:07","slug":"tony-bellew-sums-up-rico-verhoevens-chances-of-beating-anthony-joshua-after-usyk-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/611796\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Bellew sums up Rico Verhoeven’s chances of beating Anthony Joshua after Usyk performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tony Bellew<\/a> has considered how Rico Verhoeven\u2019s unorthodox style would measure up against the \u201cthunderous punches\u201d of Anthony Joshua<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the Dutchman having only one prior professional boxing match to his name, many expected Oleksandr Usyk to dissect his style with minimal difficulty.<\/p>\n

As it happened, though, Verhoeven was able to find considerable success, introducing Usyk to a tougher-than-expected night at the office<\/a> last Saturday.<\/p>\n

This was quite the achievement when considering that Verhoeven, though an accomplished kickboxer, had not fought in a boxing ring since his second-round finish over a 0-5 heavyweight in 2014.<\/p>\n

Usyk, meanwhile, was defending his WBC world title, but would have also lost his IBF and WBA belts if he had suffered a first professional defeat.<\/p>\n

This appeared increasingly likely until the Ukrainian finally floored his opponent in round 11, at which point Verhoeven was leading on one of the three judges\u2019 scorecards.<\/p>\n

The other two judges had it level when, shortly after clambering back to his feet, Verhoeven was stopped by referee Mark Lyson at the sound of the bell.<\/a><\/p>\n

Even when considering Verhoeven\u2019s mightily impressive performance, though, former world champion Bellew is unsure that he would have comparable success against the likes of Joshua and Daniel Dubois.<\/p>\n

This, he tells The Stomping Ground<\/a>, is because the element of surprise \u2013 in the context of his style \u2013 has now come to pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019re looking at Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou all over again. And I think, unfortunately for Rico, the footage is out there. [Opponents are] all going to see what he brings to the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hasn\u2019t spent long enough in the boxing game to change his style \u2013 that is his style. I think he\u2019s in a real dangerous position, and I think he just needs to hunt for Oleksandr Usyk and stay away from the others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he was to be let go against a Daniel Dubois, or an Anthony Joshua, [it\u2019s] a completely different matchup. You\u2019re meeting thunderous punches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like he did against Ngannou in 2024, Bellew believes that Joshua could implement an effective gameplan and exploit Verhoeven\u2019s weaknesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tony Bellew has considered how Rico Verhoeven\u2019s unorthodox style would measure up against the \u201cthunderous punches\u201d of Anthony…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-611796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611796","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=611796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}