Oleksandr Usyk retained his unified heavyweight championship, but it wasn’t without a tough fight from Rico Verhoeven and a controversial finish at the end of the 11th round.
From the beginning of the fight, Verhoeven tried to push the pace, going toe-to-toe with Usyk and exchanging rounds throughout the bout. Usyk looked to use his jab and land from distance, while Verhoeven tried to get inside and land combinations.
Usyk got Verhoeven in some trouble during the fourth round, crushing Verhoeven with a solid uppercut. Verhoeven, however, recovered and, after a quiet fifth round, came out firing again during round six.
Verhoeven traded with Usyk throughout rounds seven through nine, with Verhoeven continuing to push the pace and try to trap Usyk in the corner.
Oleksandr Usyk Stops Rico Verhoeven In 11 Rounds To Retain WBA and WBC Titles
While the fight was a dead heat heading into the championship rounds, it was there that Usyk’s experience showed. Usyk took back control in a big way during round 10.
Then, in round 11, Usyk knocked Verhoeven down with a big uppercut. Verhoeven recovered; however, Usyk wallopped him with a number of follow-up shots. The referee stepped in and, despite protests from the former GLORY Kickboxing champion, Usyk retained his WBA and WBC titles.
This was Usyk’s first fight since becoming a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, reclaiming the IBF title at the time with a knockout of Daniel Dubois in July.
This was Verhoeven’s first boxing match since knocking out Janos Finfera 12 years ago. This is also Verhoeven’s first loss in combat sports since losing to Andrey Gerasimchuk in kickboxing in 2015.