{"id":622644,"date":"2026-06-05T12:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/622644\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T12:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:39:08","slug":"roy-jones-names-the-one-man-who-wouldve-punished-usyks-performance-against-verhoeven-hed-beat-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/622644\/","title":{"rendered":"Roy Jones names the one man who would’ve punished Usyk’s performance against Verhoeven: “He’d beat him”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Based on his below-par display against Rico Verhoeven last month, Roy Jones Jr<\/a> believes Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> would have lost his unbeaten record to another opponent.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, the Ukrainian looked a far cry from his best against the former kickboxer, who exceeded the majority of expectations with his own performance.<\/p>\n

Many had given Verhoeven barely a puncher\u2019s chance, yet he nonetheless boasted a slight lead on one of the judges\u2019 scorecards after 10 completed rounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the end, though, Usyk managed to score an 11th-round knockdown before referee Mark Lyson waved Verhoeven off on his feet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While a controversial stoppage, given that it came after the bell had sounded, Usyk was ultimately able to retain his WBC, WBA and IBF titles.<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old then admitted in his post-fight interview that, prior to the contest, he had spoken with his daughter, who was calling from a bomb shelter in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

This can perhaps explain why he underperformed but, in any case, pound-for-pound legend Jones firmly believes that Usyk, at this stage in his career, can be defeated by David Benavidez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking with FightHype<\/a>, Jones doubled down on his prior advice to Benavidez<\/a>, who he has urged to move up to heavyweight in an attempt to dethrone Usyk.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine what David Benavidez would\u2019ve done that night \u2013 Usyk would have his first loss. Doesn\u2019t that make me look [like a] genius?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the only fight for David Benavidez right now \u2013 anyone else would be a waste of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got the chance to go up [in weight] and make history. You\u2019d be the first to beat [Usyk], [then] you\u2019ve made history.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see this guy [Verhoeven] do exactly what he did and it shows that it can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benavidez\u2019s last outing saw him topple Gilberto Ramirez for the WBO and WBA 200lb titles<\/a>, suggesting a further weight jump is not entirely out of the question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Based on his below-par display against Rico Verhoeven last month, Roy Jones Jr believes Oleksandr Usyk would have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-622644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}