Rico Verhoeven has revisited a memorable sparring session with Tyson Fury, describing it as one of the toughest rounds he has ever experienced.
According to Verhoeven, the session took place years ago when Fury was in the Netherlands training with his uncle, Peter Fury, who is now Verhoeven’s coach. The opportunity came together through the gym, and Verhoeven agreed to step in for the work.
"It was a long time ago. He was in the Netherlands training with his uncle, Peter Fury, my current coach, and they wanted to spar. My coach said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a big boxer here, and he wants to spar. I think it’ll be good for you.’ I said yes.
It was an incredibly hard sparring session. He swelled both my eyes shut, and I thought, ‘Wow. This is just crazy. I like it.’ I learned a lot from that guy," Verhoeven said, as quoted by The Ring.
Verhoeven is scheduled to face Oleksandr Usyk on May 23 in Giza.