Oleksandr Usyk stopped Rico Verhoeven with one second remaining in the 11th round on Saturday to retain the WBC title in a bout staged at the pyramids of Giza. The finish came after Usyk dropped Verhoeven late in the round with a flush right hand, then unloaded a barrage when the Dutch fighter beat the count and the referee stepped in.
Verhoeven had started well, landing a couple of vicious right hands in the opening round despite entering the ring after 12 years without a professional boxing fight. Usyk answered in the fourth round, rocking him with an uppercut, then kept pressing until the decisive sequence in the 11th produced an 11th-round TKO.
Verhoeven told Dazn he thought it was an early stoppage, saying he wanted the referee to let him go out on his shield or carry on into the 12th. He added that he felt the two men were pretty even on the scorecards and said he was super proud of his performance, hoping the boxing world embraces him as a boxer. He also said Usyk had offered him a rematch.
For all the talk before the fight that it was a mismatch, the action at Giza briefly gave Verhoeven a way in. His early right hands made the opening round competitive, and the uppercut he absorbed in the fourth slowed his push. But the heavyweight champion kept finding the cleaner shots, and once the right hand sent Verhoeven through the ropes in the final minute of the 11th, the ending felt closer than the scorecards but not necessarily kinder to the challenger.
Usyk used his postfight moment to point beyond the ring. He said Ukrainian people were sitting in bomb shelters while he fought, and said his daughter was in a bomb shelter and had sent him a message telling him, “Papa, I love you, you will win.” Usyk thanked Verhoeven, his team, his own team and his wife, and said, “This fight was hard” and “It was a good fight.”
The result keeps Usyk unbeaten and closes a night that had been framed by questions about whether Verhoeven could make a serious boxing statement after so long away from the sport. He answered enough to earn respect. Usyk answered with the stoppage.
