Unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk finished Rico Verhoeven via TKO at the 2:59 mark of the 11th round to retain the WBC title Saturday at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Usyk dropped Verhoeven with an uppercut late in the round. The fight continued, but Usyk landed a barrage of punches and the referee stepped in at the bell. Verhoeven, a champion kickboxer with just one professional boxing match under his belt, was a 10-1 underdog in the fight, but he vastly exceeded expectations against
Usyk, the top heavyweight and arguably the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Verhoeven was aggressive and clipped Usyk with hard punches throughout the fight, and he appeared to be ahead on the scorecards going into the 11th round. But in the end, Usyk came from behind to score the TKO finish and remain the unified heavyweight champion. Usyk, a 39-year-old Ukrainian, stepped into the ring for the first time since a fifth-round knockout of Daniel Dubois last July in which he became the undisputed
heavyweight champion for a second time. He vacated the WBO title four months later. Although Usyk still holds the IBF and WBA titles, he put the WBC belt on the line against Verhoeven. The victory lifted Usyk’s professional record to 25-0 with 16 knockouts. Verhoeven is one of the most accomplished kickboxers in the world. The 37-year-old Dutchman held the GLORY Kickboxing heavyweight championship from 2014 until he vacated the title late last year. He defended the belt a record 13 times. Verhoeven is now
1-1 as a professional boxer. His lone appearance in the ring before facing Usyk came in 2014, when he scored a second-round knockout victory in Germany.
Oleksandr Usyk, Rico Verhoeven, WBC title, heavyweight boxing, Pyramids of Giza, 11th round TKO, Daniel Dubois
Wait it says 2:59 of the 11th, so like… he got TKO’d almost at the end? That’s wild.
I don’t really follow boxing but the Pyramids of Giza thing sounds fake tbh. How did they even set up a ring there without it just being a circus?
So Verhoeven was ahead on points going into the 11th and then Usyk just magically wins with some uppercut? Sounds like ref roulette to me. Also didn’t Usyk get knocked out by Dubois? I might be mixing it up.
Usyk dropping him late like that is crazy. I still think Verhoeven should’ve had more boxing matches before stepping up though, like one boxing fight and then he’s in there with the best pound-for-pound guy? Idk I’m impressed but also confused how he was a 10-1 underdog if he was “ahead.”