Verhoeven retains World Heavyweight Championship with masterful performance

Frank opinions were exchanged between the two fighters in the lead-up to this encounter and the fight wasted no time in heating up in the first round, Verhoeven establishing the crispness and speed of his jab with a few well placed pops and Adegbuyi answering back with some right hands which seemed to catch Verhoeven’s attention.

Around ninety seconds in, Verhoeven ate an overhand right which caused him to step back and test his balance. That raised some eyebrows; if Adegbuyi was going to win this fight it was going to be through a powerful blow such as that.

‘Power thrills but speed kills’, as the old boxing saying goes, and Verhoeven has taken that lesson to heart. For such a big and heavily-muscled athlete he moves with an almost balletic precision at times.

Verhoeven’s fitness is so assured that his technique never suffers the kind of deficits in sharpeness which come with an empty gas tank. He can go at whatever pace he wants for as long as he wants, and that is an intimidating thing to be in the ring with.

Like many previous opponents Adegbuyi called Verhoeven’s power into question before the fight, highlighting the number of wins on his record which have come by decision rather than finish.

But while Adegbuyi clearly had the power advantage in the fight, visibly affecting Verhoeven with that same right hand more than once, he just could not handle the sheer quantity and variety of Verhoeven’s output.

As the rounds passed by Verhoeven picked Adegbuyi apart and increasingly tightened his grip on the belt. Sporadic fire came back from Adegbuyi and his power remained dangerous until the end, but Verhoeven was on another level. The judges awarded him a clear unanimous decision victory (49-46, 49-46, 50-45) to make for his second successful title defense.

On the basis of his last two performances he is becoming a more advanced version of himself. The question now is, who in the heavyweight division can threaten him?