Heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk has narrowly avoided one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, defeating Rico Verhoeven in to retain his titles in front of the Pyramids of Giza on Sunday morning AEST.
The blockbuster contest was seemingly in the balance before the Ukrainian champion struck Verhoeven with a vicious uppercut during the eleventh round, sending his opponent to the canvas.
The former kickboxing heavyweight was wobbly after returning to his feet, with Usyk landing multiple combinations before Verhoeven, who was up on the scorecards, was seemingly saved by the bell. However, Verhoeven’s corner was left fuming after the referee stopped the fight with a second remaining in the round.
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“Of course I thought it was an early stoppage, but in the end it’s not up to me,” Verhoeven said after the bout.
“I believe that the referee knows that we’re almost at the end of the round so let me go out on my shield, or let the bell go. That’s what I thought but it’s not up to me.”
“But I was super thankful for the opportunity and that Usyk took this fight.”
Usyk subsequently keeps possession of his WBA, WBC and IBF titles.
“This fight was hard,” Usyk said.
“It was a good fight. I was just boxing, my right uppercut, bang.”
Earlier on the main card, Mizuki Hiruta defeated Australian Mai Soliman to retain her retain the Ring Magazine and WBO super-flyweight titles via unanimous decision (99-91, 98-92×2), her seventh-consecutive title defence.
It was the first time Soliman had fought outside of Australian.