Alistair Overeem tells Rico Verhoeven to 'stop hiding,' wants boxing match on Fury vs Joshua card

Alistair Overeem, 46, called out Rico Verhoeven for a boxing match on the Fury vs Joshua card in Cardiff on December 11. No fight has been agreed.

Former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem has called out fellow Dutchman Rico Verhoeven for a boxing match on the Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua card on December 11 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Overeem made the challenge on social media on Monday and Tuesday, October 12-13, sharing a fight poster with both names and writing in his Instagram stories: "Stop hiding. Let's make history."

The fight has not been agreed. No promoter has announced it, and neither camp has confirmed any deal, FSI247 reported. Fury vs Joshua will stream live on Netflix.

What is confirmed and what is not

Confirmed: Overeem publicly called out Verhoeven and named the Fury vs Joshua card as the venue he wants.
Not confirmed: any contract, date or place on the Cardiff card for Overeem vs Verhoeven.
Reported: Verhoeven's manager Karim Erja told FSI247 that the team is in talks with several parties at once and that the outcome "can go in any direction."

In August, Dutch outlet NU.nl reported that Erja said an Overeem fight was not planned and that the team had no interest in it at that time, according to FSI247. Verhoeven's trainer Peter Fury has said his training camp will start very soon.

A rivalry that never happened

Overeem and Verhoeven were booked to fight for the GLORY heavyweight title at Collision 3 in 2021, but Overeem withdrew with an injury and the fight was cancelled. Overeem has pushed for the matchup for years. In August he told Bloody Elbow that Verhoeven was "avoiding" him and that boxing was the format where Verhoeven "has the most chance." At that time he was aiming for a stadium fight at the Johan Cruijff ArenA in Amsterdam in 2027.

Overeem is now 46. He retired in 2023 and has not fought professionally since his 2022 kickboxing bout with Badr Hari. That fight was first scored as a win for Overeem, but the result was later overturned after a positive drug test. According to FSI247, Overeem has trained with Oleksandr Usyk's team in Spain as he prepares for a move into boxing.

In the UFC, Overeem won four of his last six fights between 2018 and 2021, all by knockout, including a first-round stoppage of Sergei Pavlovich. His UFC wins also include Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir, Brock Lesnar, Junior dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski.

Verhoeven's boxing path

Verhoeven, the longtime GLORY heavyweight champion, was unbeaten in kickboxing for more than a decade before switching to boxing. In his boxing debut in May in Egypt, he lost to heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk by a disputed 11th-round stoppage. Since then, his name has been linked with an IBF title shot and a spot on the Fury vs Joshua card.

The Cardiff card is still taking shape. Dana White has said Jai Opetaia vs Deontay Wilder is likely to be on the undercard. Verhoeven has not publicly responded to Overeem's latest challenge.