Rico Verhoeven led on one score card at the time of today’s controversial stoppage loss to Oleksandr Usyk, though he wouldn’t have had the fight gone into the 12th round.
At the end of 10 rounds, two judges (Manuel Oliver Palomo and Fabian Guggenheim) had the fight scored even, 95-95, with judge Pasquale Procopio scoring Verhoeven ahead, 96-94.
But Usyk (25-0, 16 KO) had scored a knockdown late in the 11th round, before a further flurry led referee Mark Lyson to stopping the fight at 2:59, just before the break to end that round and go into the 12th.
Many, I’m guessing, still would have rather seen what would have happened from there, even if the odds are that Usyk would have scored a 12th round stoppage of a tired, hurt Verhoeven, who may not have had enough time to recover from the 11th round onslaught from his opponent.