BoxRec

Francis Ngannou vs Rico Verhoeven anyone?

It's definitely possible, but only for those specific 2 names.

I’d watch it

Both guys did great against the two undefeated champs. Even though later AJ crushed Francis like a grape.

You need atleast one real boxer in a fight to make it look good.
This will look like a Misfits X series fight.

Alistair Overeem recently offered a boxing fight to Rico, but he had no interest.
I wonder if Rico is interested in developing as a boxer, or if he's just after the biggest pay-day.

I mean I've seen good fights on ESPN between Boxers that had less than 5 fights between them. I don't see why you couldn't expect a good fight here.

It's not as if these guys aren't Experienced fighters.

Yeah, I could see the argument for it, especially if the event is built around the names rather than their boxing records. Ngannou has already shown that his drawing power isn't tied to having a long boxing résumé, while Verhoeven brings a huge kickboxing following.wheelie life

The bigger question is whether the promoter could create enough hype around the matchup to justify the purses. If it's packaged as a major crossover event, rather than a normal heavyweight fight, I wouldn't rule out both guys making serious money despite the records.

I bet you'd they promote it as 17-3-0 (or 17-5-0) Vs 49-8-0 (or 50-9-0)

Only Turki would make this, to give them the money that they would want. Or some new promoter that has money to burn.

RuudOEN84 wrote: ↑06 Aug 2026, 14:22 You need atleast one real boxer in a fight to make it look good.
This will look like a Misfits X series fight.

Alistair Overeem recently offered a boxing fight to Rico, but he had no interest.
I wonder if Rico is interested in developing as a boxer, or if he's just after the biggest pay-day.

Biggest payday. He doesn't have time to develop as a boxer.

Yeah why not?

As long as fans sip deeply from the toilet bowl