Rico Verhoeven almost did the impossible against Oleksandr Usyk and his fellow fighters couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
For 10 rounds, Verhoeven gave boxing’s undefeated heavyweight king everything he could handle, likely leading on the scorecards until Usyk caught dropped him with a hard punch. The referee stepped in for the count with time ticking down in the round and Verhoeven recovered, only to be put on the defensive again as Usyk flurried for a finish. Much to the crowd’s surprise, the referee stopped the bout, giving Usyk a controversial victory when it looked like the fighters would get three more minutes to decide it.
Verhoeven, a legendary kickboxer competing in just his second-ever pro boxing match, evoked memories of Francis Ngannou’s near upset of Tyson Fury back in October 2023. However, unlike Ngannou, who lost a controversial decision to Fury, Verhoeven was denied the chance to go the distance.
Influencer boxer Jake Paul called the stoppage “the most insane shit I’ve ever seen,” adding, “I’m the biggest Usyk fan but bro you lost that shit.”
Several pros had similarly incredulous reactions and you can check those out below.
Read the full article here
