Johnny Nelson has been asked how he thinks Anthony Joshua might have fared if he had to face Rico Verhoeven.
Verhoeven is a kickboxing world heavyweight champion who impressed the world when he made his took on Oleksandr Usyk in May.
The Dutchman boxed well from the off. His defences were tight, his footwork as good, and he was throwing plenty of dangerous shots, though never quite detonated one fully on the chin of the Ukrainian.
Instead, he was caught a number of times himself at the end of the 11th round, which forced the referee to stop the fight, much to many fans’ frustration.
Before the clash with Usyk came to fruition, Verhoeven had previously been linked to a clash with Joshua, and whilst speaking to Daily Mail Boxing, Nelson suggested that AJ could have been in trouble had he been in the ring.
“I think he swerved a good one. I think he swerved something that could have been career-ending. Because Rico was strong, big, there were shots that were just missing Usyk’s chin.
“Remember, Rico is used to being kicked in the head by bigger men so ‘AJ’s got the power, he’s got the accuracy, but if doesn’t get rid of him early and Rico is holding him and twisting him up and using that physicality on him, I think, you know what, it shouldn’t be the case but now we know what he is about, if that had have been ‘AJ’, Rico would have had his number.”
For now, Joshua’s focus is on his first fight since December. He takes on Kristian Prenga in a contest he needs to win in order to secure the epic and long-awaited all-British showdown with Tyson Fury later in the year.
