Rico Verhoeven nearly pulled off an all-time upset against Oleksandr Usyk this past weekend in Egypt. Or at least, that was the general consensus as the fight played out.
The former GLORY Kickboxing heavyweight champion shocked the boxing world in only his second appearance in the sport after a decade away. Verhoeven, 37, built early momentum against the sport’s pound-for-pound king, landed heavily as the match continued and had most viewers scoring the bout in his favor entering the championship rounds — despite the official scorecards reading otherwise.
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Ultimately, Verhoeven succumbed to a controversial 11th-round stoppage, with the match getting halted by referee Mark Lyson after the bell following an Usyk blitz. Speaking Tuesday on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Verhoeven admitted he was as surprised as everyone else upon learning the match was scored evenly as it progressed.
“I was slowing down a bit at the end,” Verhoeven told Uncrowned. “But still, if you look at it, I was keeping like a really good pace for like 10, 11 rounds. So I was excited, I was feeling good. … Me and my team, we’re our own biggest critics. If we look back at it, we can say, ‘Hmm, maybe we could have taken a round off somewhere in between. Maybe two rounds just moving around, and taking a look and catch a breath for a little bit.’ [But] we were on a roll. We were feeling so good.
“We were just like surprised by some things that [happened]. For example, there was open scorecards, and after four [rounds], we got the scorecards and we were like, ‘Hey, we’re even. Hmm, OK.’ I felt like I was at least three to one, but OK, we’re even, that’s fine. Then we get the scorecards again after another four rounds.
“[It’s] after Round 8 and still we were even. You’re like, ‘Hmm, this — I don’t know. It starts to feel fishy because I feel like I’m winning these rounds. I’m working more. I’m getting hit less, and I’m hitting and touching him more than he’s hitting me, so maybe you have to push it a little bit more so it’s getting looked at through a protective boxing lens.’ Then maybe because I’m an outsider, I have to put in that extra work to be even more convincing. But we saw in the commentating stats, at Round 10, [the commentary team was scoring the fight] like eight to two [for me], instead of going up equal.”
The bout’s finish was a unique and instantly polarizing one. A knockdown late in the 11th round signaled danger for Verhoeven, allowing Usyk to apply the pressure and dish out punches. But the Dutchman underdog survived and was seemingly still holding his wits about him when referee Lyson waved the action off right after the bell sounded.
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Verhoeven wholeheartedly believes he could’ve continued for the subsequent final round.
“I would have probably took another route. I probably would have moved around and gone back just on the jab, but I was like, ‘OK, he’s going to start pushing,’” Verhoeven said.
“If you look back at it, I got [hit by] the uppercut. For the people that know my fights, I’ve been dropped multiple times in different types of fights — in championship fights. And what I do is I get back up, and no matter how much time is left on the clock, I get back up and I end up winning. So that was the mindset, because I got back up, my mouthpiece was out, they put the mouthpiece back in. But I heard [the bell]. ‘OK, that’s good. There’s only 10 seconds left. So let me keep my hands up, and let me get to the 12th round.’
“I knew he was going to come straight at me. He was coming — I was like pop-pop, I gave him another hook. I believe it was a right hook, but that’s not smart. Let’s just pop-pop, keep my hands up and wait until the bell goes. When is the bell going to go? When is the referee going to stop this [for the end of the round]? These 10 seconds are taking long right now. And then [Lyson] jumped in. I was like, ‘OK, the round is over.’ He’s like, ‘No, it’s over.’ What do you mean it’s over? ‘No, no, no, it’s over.’ But why? ‘No, no, no, I stopped it.’ I was like, ‘What the heck is going on here?’ So for me, it was a surprise. Then afterward, we heard that the bell already rang before he jumped in. I don’t know.”
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Verhoeven didn’t get a chance to speak with Lyson at any point after the match. His coach, Peter Fury, did and shared that Lyson claimed not to have heard the bell ring. Verhoeven acknowledged Tuesday that we have to take the referee at his word.
Regardless of the outcome, Verhoeven cited other examples of heavyweight matches continuing after seismic knockdowns. He specifically looked at the moments in Uysk’s matches against Tyson Fury and Fury’s epic resurrection against Deontay Wilder.
By comparison, Verhoeven’s situation was night and day.
“I’m keeping my hands up, I’m responsive, I’m not gone or whatever, and they just wave it off. What?” Verhoeven said.
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“To be honest, I deserved — and the fans deserved — to see that 12th round. Whatever the outcome would be. Yeah, but then all the opinions come again: ‘Yeah, but you would have never survived that.’ There is no what if, you know? … There is no what if. So, stop the what-ifs. Let’s just focus on the things that happened and how we judge that and how we talk about it, and let’s continue from that.”
After the match, Verhoeven spoke about appealing the match result in an attempt to overturn things. Since that’s a rarity in all of combat sports, Verhoeven doesn’t expect anything to change, but more so just wants an admittance of wrongdoing.
An apology would be nice, he said.
Rico Verhoeven nearly pulled off one of the greatest upsets in boxing history.
“It was viewed through a very boxing protective lens, and that is maybe something that we can talk about in general,” Verhoeven said. “That’s also one of the reasons, like I said, why we appealed it, and all they can say is like, ‘Hey Rico, we apologize. We should have done better. We made a mistake.’ That’s all you can ask for.
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“You can sit here, be angry and waste all your energy on that, but it’s not going to change anything. It’s not going to change the outcome. It’s not going to do anything. It’s not going to make me feel better. It is what it is, actually.”
Verhoeven is still awaiting the review of his appeal, but isn’t holding his breath for good news. He’s ready to move on and keep the ball rolling on the heels of his valiant effort.
Ideally, Verhoeven wants an Usyk rematch. He’s a combat sports free agent after signing just a one-match deal for Saturday’s bout, but ultra-premature conversations have already begun for another fight with Turki Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season, he revealed. That leaves every door of opportunity wide open. But after such a strong showing in boxing, he sees the sport he conquered — kickboxing — in the rear-view.
“One hundred perfect, I would love that [Usyk rematch]. But like I said, it’s not up to me,” Verhoeven said.
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“There’s so many interests from all kinds of ways and all kinds of possibilities and all kinds of people that are approaching us with everything. Of course, [Alalshikh] gave me the opportunity first, so that’s where we’re looking at now. Let’s see what the future holds for us.
“I’m excited about the rematch. It’s going to get even more eyeballs than it did this time.”
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