On the night of Sunday, May 24, in a specially built open arena at the foot of the pyramids in Giza (Egypt), a fight for the world champion title took place between the holder of the WBC, WBA and IBF belts, 39-year-old Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk (25 wins, 16 of them by knockout) and the legendary kickboxer from the Netherlands, 37-year-old Rico Verhoeven (1 win by knockout, 1 loss).
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The Olympic champion, who turned out to be 11.5 kg lighter and 5 cm shorter than his opponent, suffered a lot in this fight. Verhoeven turned out to be a much stronger opponent than expected. Almost the entire fight, Rico stubbornly went forward, punched powerfully and often hit. Yes, he also got a lot of hits at times. But, it seems, even boxers did not beat Oleksandr so hard. Only Usyk would not be Usyk. In the 11th round, the champion sent Verhoeven into a heavy knockdown, and when he tried to continue the fight, he arranged a finishing move. The referee stopped the fight, recording Usyk's victory by technical knockout.
“I think the fight was stopped prematurely,” said Rico Verhoeven . “It sucks. I felt like I was so close to shocking the world. I think I showed the world that I can definitely box. Even as a kickboxer, they said to me, 'Who's this guy? He can't do anything. It's four or five rounds at most.' But I think after four or five rounds, we were pretty even according to the judges' notes. So it was a crazy, crazy performance. But I felt like I was so close to winning. But what is is is.”
“They stopped the fight with 1 second left in the 11th round. Insane. This is an absolutely disgraceful stoppage of the fight. Rico was robbed,” said journalist and insider Ariel Helwani . “Boxing fans and the media (rather contemptuously) dismissed the Francis Ngannou vs. Fury fight. I still think Francis won that fight. They did the same with Rico. Tonight, Rico was effectively robbed of his chance to shock the world. This fight should definitely be done again.”
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Be that as it may, Usyk defended his WBC, WBA, and IBF world champion belts (the last two titles would not have gone to the Dutchman even if he had won), celebrating a small anniversary — 25 victories in the professional ring.
By the way, according to the statistics of the Compubox portal, Verhoeven landed one more accurate punch than Usyk. The Ukrainian has 499 punches, of which 112 were accurate. He threw 236 jabs (23 accurate), as well as 263 power punches (89 accurate). The Dutchman landed 508 punches, of which 113 were accurate. He has 265 jabs (24 accurate), as well as 243 power punches (93 accurate).
After the fight, Usyk announced that he was ready to fight the interim WBC heavyweight champion from Germany, Agit Kabayel (27 wins, 19 of them by knockout), who entered the ring in Giza. “I'm ready. I can fight both of them,” said the Ukrainian, also referring to a rematch with Verhoeven.
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By the way, the fight was witnessed by many boxing legends – Anthony Joshua, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Terence Crawford, Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, Gian Opetaia, Derek Chisora, Joseph Parker, Gennady Golovkin, and another of the organizers of the fight – the head of the General Directorate of Entertainment of Saudi Arabia Turki Al-Sheikh and the famous actor Jason Statham. As well as Usyk's wife Kateryna. The poor thing suffered…
According to unofficial information, the great young man Verhoeven will receive 10-15 million euros for the fight, and Usyk's fee will be from 35 million and above.
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Previously, “FACTS” reported that Usyk admitted whether he would go into politics after his career.
Photo by X Ring Magazine