NOS Sport•yesterday, 10:39 PM
Rico Verhoeven has successfully defended his heavyweight title for the twelfth time. In the Gelredome stadium he had to go very deep, but he was the boss of challenger Levi Rigters.
The fight was announced in advance as the battle between the King (Verhoeven) and the Prince (Rigters) of kickboxing. The 35-year-old Verhoeven has already said several times that he sees Rigters, six years his junior, as his potential successor.
Watch the reactions of Rico Verhoeven and Levi Rigters after the fight below.
But tonight Verhoeven did not give up his throne yet. The champion faltered a few times and fell behind in the third round when Rigters knocked him down. But Verhoeven fought back and won the game on points.
André Hazes
The event attracted more than 20,000 spectators, making it the second most attended kickboxing fight ever in the Netherlands. Only the match between Verhoeven and Badr Hari in 2019 attracted a larger audience.
In the run-up to the fight, Rigters was struck by a sad private event. His father died last weekend at the age of 77, but the kickboxer from Abcoude had no hesitation in canceling the fight, also because his father would not have wanted that. He performed in the Gelredome with the song ‘Kleine Jongen’ by André Hazes.
At the end of the evenly matched first round, Verhoeven went down after an unauthorized knee in the groin. Initially, Verhoeven was given an eight count by the referee, but that was overturned. Ultimately, three of the five judges gave the round to Verhoeven.
In the second round all judges were in favor of Verhoeven. Rigters tried it every now and then with his dreaded one spinning backfist and other spectacular techniques, but without success. Verhoeven’s pace was too high for the challenger.
Rigters walked into the ring in the third round with a bleeding cut on his forehead. Yet he managed to knock Verhoeven down with a hard right hook. Rigters’ knee narrowly missed the defending champion’s head, but Verhoeven now got eight counts and fell behind in the fight.
The tables were turned in round number four. Verhoeven hit the canvas with his right Rigters for the count of eight and took the lead again.
The final round had to make the decision. Rigters searched for the decisive point with high kicks, but was always unable to reach Verhoeven.
The fight ended with a hug between the two fighters, who showed all their mutual respect in the days beforehand. The jury unanimously selected Verhoeven as the winner.
Afterwards, Verhoeven asked for a big round of applause for Rigters. “This man is a future champion, 100 percent!”, shouted the winner.
