Rico Verhoeven looks challenger in the eye: 'Like looking in the mirror'

“The battle of the legends.” That's what Rico Verhoeven calls the world title fight against Artem Vakhitov on June 14. The kickboxing world champion from Halsteren met his Russian opponent for the first time at the staredown in the run-up to the fight on Wednesday morning. He is looking forward to a high-level chess match: “Everyone can only kick and punch. With Artem, I feel like I'm looking in the mirror. He thinks about why he does things at …