pushed the legendary Oleksandr Usyk to the brink<\/a>, before being stopped with a second left in the 11th round. <\/p>\nFor a fighter that many boxing fans barely knew a week ago, Verhoeven delivered a performance that stunned the combat world.<\/p>\n
Despite having fought the likes of former champions Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, Usyk \u2013 the greatest heavyweight champ of his era \u2013 was given his toughest fight in years by Verhoeven.<\/p>\n
One man who knows exactly what Verhoeven brings to the table is Australian Ben Edwards who shared the ring with the kickboxing legend in 2012.<\/p>\n
Edwards, a three-time world kickboxing champion who later captured Australian heavyweight honours in boxing, says it exposed a familiar flaw within boxing circles.<\/p>\n
Oleksandr Usyk, left, fights during a boxing match against Rico Verhoeven, right, at the WBC World Heavyweight Championship “Glory in Giza” at the site of the Pyramids of Giza, Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Giza, Egypt. (AP Photo)Source: AP<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Usyk made the same mistake Fury made against Nganou in completely underestimating Rico,\u201d he told Fox Sports Australia. <\/p>\n
\u201cUsyk also came in at a career heaviest weight possibly because he didn\u2019t take it seriously \u2013 or to purposely be heavier to fight the much bigger man in Rico.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s an air of arrogance from boxing people when fighters from other sports go to boxing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI felt it when I started my boxing career\u2026 I\u2019d hear all the time \u2018kickboxers can\u2019t box\u2019 and \u2019MMA fighters can\u2019t box\u2019 and I think Usyk might have underestimated Rico.\u201d<\/p>\n
That underestimation nearly produced one of the biggest upsets in modern boxing history.<\/p>\n
Verhoeven was dropped by an uppercut late in round 11, before moments later referee Mark Lyson waved it off to protect him from further punishment.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a good chance that Usyk would have finished the job in the next round, but the finish was certainly controversial in a fight of this magnitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the stoppage was terrible, the round had already ended, they could have at least let him go into the next round and give him a chance — especially for the heavyweight championships of the world,\u201d said Edwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought Rico was up 8 rounds to 2 going into the 11th. I thought the live scoring was bulls**t to have it pretty much an even fight going into the 11th.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s typical boxing bulls**t. They gave Tyson Fury 21 seconds to recover against Usyk and gave Rico less than half that time I believe \u2013 and the round had ended. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe absolutely deserves a rematch and another payday.\u201d <\/p>\n
WILL RICO VERHOEVEN GET A REMATCH?<\/p>\n
Verhoeven absolutely deserves a rematch, but we know that Usyk has an order from the WBC to fight interim champion Agit Kabayel.<\/p>\n
It is also clear that Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh wants to do the Kabayel fight next and then a possible rematch with Verhoeven.<\/p>\n
Speaking post-fight on Sunday, Alalshikh said: \u201cIt is the choice of Usyk, now is not the right time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is in the line, but also he [Rico] deserves a rematch after Kabayel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are in the line, both of them. We want to see Kabayel, and we want to see the rematch with Rico in Holland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Usyk replied: \u201cIf your organisation is, I am ready. I can box them both.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the bout, Verhoeven launched an official appeal about the stoppage.<\/p>\n
The Dutch superstar shared a photograph on social media showing his manager formally submitting the appeal while travelling to the airport.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficial protest has been filed on our way to the Airport,\u201d Verhoeven wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cRules only matter if they are applied when it matters most.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another man who is insisting on the rematch being fought soon is Verhoeven\u2019s coach, Peter Fury.<\/p>\n
While he admits his fighter may have been finished in the final round, Fury said the stoppage wasn\u2019t entirely fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the stoppage was early but at the end of the day he [Verhoeven] was tired, he was fatigued, it was the 11th round. Could have made the 12? Probably not. But the stoppage was premature,\u201d Fury told DAZN.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m about respect. Respect your opponent. I\u2019m not into all the slapping s**t. Usyk\u2019s got the win, full congratulations to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think they should … I think Oleksandr will run it back because he\u2019ll look at it, you know, let\u2019s run it back. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe guy [Verhoeven] deserves another shot because look what\u2019s happened here. A little bit more experience. It\u2019s the first time he\u2019s ever, ever gone past five rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk (R) fights Netherlands’ Rico Verhoeven (L) during their WBC World Heavyweight Championship ‘Glory in Giza’ boxing match at the Pyramids of Giza on May 23, 2026.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
WARREN SAYS KABAYEL BETTER BE NEXT<\/p>\n
Promoter Frank Warren says he won\u2019t stand for a rematch between Usyk and Verhoeven to go ahead of Kabayel getting his shot at the champion.<\/p>\n
Although Usyk has an order from the WBC to face Kabayel, we\u2019ve seen repeatedly that Usyk doesn\u2019t always do what he\u2019s told to.<\/p>\n
Twice Usyk has been undisputed heavyweight champion and has given up titles to take other fights.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever happens, they\u2019re talking about maybe doing a rematch with Usyk and Rico. We\u2019re not going to stand for that,\u201d Warren told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsyk\u2019s been there long enough and (Kabayel) wants his moment, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll be pushing for with the WBC, and hopefully we get it over the line and do that sometime in the autumn.<\/p>\n
Usyk’s instantly iconic pyramid walk out | 01:30<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he doesn\u2019t take it, he\u2019ll have to vacate it, or be stripped, it\u2019s as simple as that.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re a champion, you defend the belts, that\u2019s what you\u2019re there for, if you don\u2019t defend them, then you\u2019ve got to give them up and let other people have an opportunity to build their name.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the shadow of the Great Pyramid of Giza, Rico Verhoeven established himself as much more than just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-694415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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