Round-by-Round: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Rico Verhoeven - 23 May 2026

[gilgamesh]

This reminded me a bit of Loma vs teo… I was just watching wondering why Usyk was just waiting way too long.

He wasn't strong enough to stop Rico's pressure. He wasn't waiting. He was doing all he could.

It wasn’t a strength issue it was a speed, reflex and movement issue. And because of that Usyk was too passive.

He was doing all this version of him could do. I’ll pay that. And got it done eventually. But you’re mad if you think that Usyk wasn’t by far the worst version of him we have seen at heavyweight.

Otherwise your position is Rico is a top 5 heavyweight. Which is pretty bold but it’s a doable stance I guess. But just like I didn’t think nganu was a top heavyweight after that fury, I don’t think Rico is a top heavyweight after this Usyk.

I want the rematch cause I didn’t like the ending. But if Rico is what you say he is and he dosent get the rematch, he will start cleaning up the division pretty quick.

Usyk certainly had his worst performance in this bout, but I think Rico played his part in that too, and it wasn't simply a case of Usyk not being as good as he was.

If Usyk had been fighting Wardley or Wilder he'd have had an easier time than he had against Verhoeven.

I don't know what matches there will be for Verhoeven as a Boxer, but I'd like to see more of him in this sport definitely. He's been fighting for years and years already in his own right so he probably only has a few more years left in his body also, but there's a lot of potentially interesting matchups he could be put in.

[881073]

The scorecards now also changed now.
Initially they said Rico Verhoven down in round 11, 92-98 ahead on the scorecards.
That was on boxrec and with that spelling error in his name.
Now it's edited and they now claim all referees had about a draw.

To me, it's really just another narrative within a group of people who don't like to hear the truth and prefere to spread a narrative nonstop hoping a group of dumb people actually believe it.

Just another day of "let's keep some narratives alive!"

[DrDuke]

Everything was just disappointing. Usyk came in unprepared. When Usyk knocked Rico down, there was extra time for Rico to recover. When the stoppage occured, Usyk wasn't landing clean and it was after the bell. Formally Rico deserves a rematch now, but Kabayel had deserved a shot more before it.

[KiwiRider]

Usyk ain't wild about Kabayel is he?

Nope, never even mentioned his name.
He would have lost to him tonight, that's for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if Uysk continues to duck him.

[DrDuke]

Usyk ain't wild about Kabayel is he?

Nope, never even mentioned his name.
He would have lost to him tonight, that's for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if Uysk continues to duck him.

If he doesn't face Kabayel next, this gonna look like Fury's story of ducking Usyk himself.

[MightyWarrior]

Yeh great call Gilgamesh- I clearly know nothing about kickboxing and thought this guy would just be canon fodder - but Jesus, I didn’t realise how f-*king huge he is, and how he could actually box…but what the hell, I thought we were watching “the greatest heavyweight of all time”’ struggling against a guy in his second fight.

Ref panicked with the bad stoppage, shame as robbed them both of what they were due.

And Peter fury is really very good isn’t he? Moses or Fabio should get hold of him maybe.

I’m still not quite sure what I saw last night

[Ricky]

Rico wasn't in a position to defend himself as the ref stepped in. That's the rules.

Yeah on second viewing the stoppage wasn't that bad, he was obviously badly hurt from the KD, got extra time for the mouthpiece, then still failed to stop an onslaught from Usyk. You can't ask the ref to turn a blind eye to that in the hope the bell comes.

The truth is, they already removed the timestamp for whatever weird reason

The TV clock typically disappears after the 10 second warning because the TV graphics typically don't align perfectly with the timekeeper, especially when the clock was stopped during a round - as it was when Rico spat the gumshield.

There was still plenty time left when Rico went down, he spits his gumshield and his corner try to buy a few seconds by dropping it too, robbing Usyk of the time he still had & the opportunity to find a finish, then everyone wants to moan that he should've been saved by the bell? Give me a break.

[johnmanchester]

There was still plenty time left when Rico went down, he spits his gumshield and his corner try to buy a few seconds by dropping it too, robbing Usyk of the time he still had & the opportunity to find a finish, then everyone wants to moan that he should've been saved by the bell? Give me a break.

Usyk balanced all that out by being nowhere near a neutral corner when the fight was restarting. He was stood right on top of the ref when Rico gumshield was being put in

[Ricky]

There was still plenty time left when Rico went down, he spits his gumshield and his corner try to buy a few seconds by dropping it too, robbing Usyk of the time he still had & the opportunity to find a finish, then everyone wants to moan that he should've been saved by the bell? Give me a break.

Usyk balanced all that out by being nowhere near a neutral corner when the fight was restarting. He was stood right on top of the ref when Rico gumshield was being put in

Quite right. If i were the ref I'd have resumed the fight without the gumshield.

[handsofstone]

What a crock of sh1t, English referee ruining yet another championship fight, I thought he was trying to break them because it was end of the round, didn't even cross my mind he was stopping it, disgraceful, Usyk was terrible, I had Verhoeven up by 2 rounds after 10, Usyk was slow , sluggish, didn't get more active as it wore on like he usually does, the uppercut was the only shot he had any success with, Verhoeven used his size and strength to bully Usyk, chin down, shoulders hunched, walked in and put it on Usyk, landed the right hand time and again and manhandled him, he landed nearly all the notable punches, Copps score was way of but no doubt Verhoeven was winning, Usyk needed something, he had a good 10th then obviously found the right uppercut at end of 11th the dropped Verhoeven and hurt him, he waded in the corner catching him but didn't look like he had enough time but thankfully for him it was a BBBC registered official that gave him a TKO, feel for Verhoeven, id have fancied Usyk in the last but we'll never know, embarrassing tbqh


Also I'm not buying the whole Verhoeven being unpredictable and unorthodox because of his kickboxing style, he was just aggressive and used plenty of feints like all top boxers do, feintings purpose is to be unpredictable, it wasnt as he spoiled to unsettle Usyk and I'm no hearing anything about the shape Usyk was in either, that's on him

[veriton]

Bunce BBC podcast catches him referring to Rick Reno as an ar5sehol3 for bringing up Kabayel as Usyks next natural fight, then praises Turki for shutting the question down. Is Bunce hedging his bets in case the BBC cut his pod? Because he wasn't being a journalist there.

[MasterG]

Don't want a rematch myself. I just don't like it when a boxer 1-0 gets a world title shot, when you've got boxers fighting for years to earn their shot.

This would never have happened back in the day.

Bellew said he had earned his right to fight Usyk, how was that the case. If that's correct Lewis Hamilton should be given a title shot next.

It's all garbage now.

[johnmanchester]

Bunce BBC podcast catches him referring to Rick Reno as an ar5sehol3 for bringing up Kabayel as Usyks next natural fight, then praises Turki for shutting the question down. Is Bunce hedging his bets in case the BBC cut his pod? Because he wasn't being a journalist there.

Possibly anticipating cutbacks on BBC interest in boxing. Doesn't look like boxxer will be extended or renewed

[JC]

Thinking about it, Usyk is lucky the sanctioning bodies are such a bunch of greedy shithouses otherwise this might have been a 10 rounder.

[Controversial]

Don't want a rematch myself. I just don't like it when a boxer 1-0 gets a world title shot, when you've got boxers fighting for years to earn their shot.

This would never have happened back in the day.

Except it did, Pete Rademacher got a HW title shot against Floyd Patterson in his debut in 1957. He dropped Patterson too.

[joshj909]

Yeah Usyk trained hard, I’m not sure that was this issue. I think it’s a combination of a few things, Rico can box, he isn’t a wrestler, jujitsu expert etc he knows how to punch. He’s a huge lump, very fit and very strong. There is very little footage of him boxing so hard to train for. But what often catches fighters out is I think there’s an element of expecting to win and not focusing 100%. When you are the underdog the pressure is off. We see it in all sports, some massive underdog beating the favourite as the underdog raises their game and the favourites sometimes don’t focus or try as hard.

At his heaviest ever weight, I think we can all tell that he either slacked in training or his age is holding him back.

6 pounds heavier than ever, not a massive deal really, it’s not like he was 2 stone heavier. I just think he couldn’t work Rico out, he didn’t look tired.

But I’m absolutely amazed a 37 year old 260lb guy with zero real boxing experience could be that active after 11 rounds, his engine was unreal which some people might think is a bit suspicious.

Peter Fury wouldn't let him take PEDs...

[Ricky]

Don't want a rematch myself. I just don't like it when a boxer 1-0 gets a world title shot, when you've got boxers fighting for years to earn their shot.

This would never have happened back in the day.

Bellew said he had earned his right to fight Usyk, how was that the case. If that's correct Lewis Hamilton should be given a title shot next.

It's all garbage now.

Fully agree with this, it's crap. Boxing isn't a serious sport. Why don't we just allocate a spot in the World Cup Final to a team of Youtubers with a huge following?

A guy getting a title shot because he was successful in a DIFFERENT SPORT is just laughable.

[joshj909]

I wonder how many fans were influenced by the commentators and Copp's scorecards. Whenever they showed the punch stats the commentary team were shocked that Usyk had actually been out landing Rico for much if the fight. I suspect that they were counting punches that hadn't been landing and were getting ahead of themselves. Either that or Turki made sure everyone legitimised the fight. Usyk won more rounds than the production were giving him credit for and I think that influenced a lot of people's decisions.

For example, Copp gave Verhoeven round 5...

[gilgamesh]

A Fight is a Fight. A great Boxer could hold his own in Kickboxing as well, they just wouldn't bother because there's nowhere near as much money in Kickboxing.

Football and Baseball are 2 entirely different sporting concepts.

A Kickboxing match or a Boxing match have the same goal. Knock the other man out or land more blows than him.

[forcefraser]

What a crock of sh1t, English referee ruining yet another championship fight, I thought he was trying to break them because it was end of the round, didn't even cross my mind he was stopping it, disgraceful, Usyk was terrible, I had Verhoeven up by 2 rounds after 10, Usyk was slow , sluggish, didn't get more active as it wore on like he usually does, the uppercut was the only shot he had any success with, Verhoeven used his size and strength to bully Usyk, chin down, shoulders hunched, walked in and put it on Usyk, landed the right hand time and again and manhandled him, he landed nearly all the notable punches, Copps score was way of but no doubt Verhoeven was winning, Usyk needed something, he had a good 10th then obviously found the right uppercut at end of 11th the dropped Verhoeven and hurt him, he waded in the corner catching him but didn't look like he had enough time but thankfully for him it was a BBBC registered official that gave him a TKO, feel for Verhoeven, id have fancied Usyk in the last but we'll never know, embarrassing tbqh


Also I'm not buying the whole Verhoeven being unpredictable and unorthodox because of his kickboxing style, he was just aggressive and used plenty of feints like all top boxers do, feintings purpose is to be unpredictable, it wasnt as he spoiled to unsettle Usyk and I'm no hearing anything about the shape Usyk was in either, that's on him

Clear racism. It's British refs, not just English refs. I've seen old Victor stop a good few under debatable circumstances

[veriton]

A Fight is a Fight. A great Boxer could hold his own in Kickboxing as well, they just wouldn't bother because there's nowhere near as much money in Kickboxing.

Football and Baseball are 2 entirely different sporting concepts.

A Kickboxing match or a Boxing match have the same goal. Knock the other man out or land more blows than him.

Not sure about that, Riddick Bowe was totally embarrassed when he tried it. It's a whole different skill and a lifetime of learning to take a different type of pain.

[gilgamesh]

A Fight is a Fight. A great Boxer could hold his own in Kickboxing as well, they just wouldn't bother because there's nowhere near as much money in Kickboxing.

Football and Baseball are 2 entirely different sporting concepts.

A Kickboxing match or a Boxing match have the same goal. Knock the other man out or land more blows than him.

Not sure about that, Riddick Bowe was totally embarrassed when he tried it. It's a whole different skill and a lifetime of learning to take a different type of pain.

I don't recall Bowe ever having a Kickboxing match.

Shannon Briggs beat Tom Erickson in a Kickboxing match, but Erickson was primarily a Grappler.

There have been many Kickboxers who are best known for their punching. Many competitors in the sport only focus on leg kicks or using their legs for defense.

[forcefraser]

Some unit is old Rico. Proper specimin.

He had a great engine until he didn't, if that makes sense.

10 rounds of bouncing up and down with that put your dukes up double slicing praying mantis combo is gonna knacker any man. He was gassed in 11th and primed for a shellacking.

Massive credit to the guy, shook up the world. Seems like a top bloke as well, respectful, pobably has a higher than average love for his nan

I want to see more of this bouncing brute, against a puncher like Danny D or Frank Sanchez perhaps (what a KO that was)

[forcefraser]

A Fight is a Fight. A great Boxer could hold his own in Kickboxing as well, they just wouldn't bother because there's nowhere near as much money in Kickboxing.

Football and Baseball are 2 entirely different sporting concepts.

A Kickboxing match or a Boxing match have the same goal. Knock the other man out or land more blows than him.

Not sure about that, Riddick Bowe was totally embarrassed when he tried it. It's a whole different skill and a lifetime of learning to take a different type of pain.

I don't recall Bowe ever having a Kickboxing match.

Shannon Briggs beat Tom Erickson in a Kickboxing match, but Erickson was primarily a Grappler.

There have been many Kickboxers who are best known for their punching. Many competitors in the sport only focus on leg kicks or using their legs for defense.

Big Vitali started as a kickboxer I think

[gilgamesh]

He did, but only ever competed in Amateur Kickboxing to my knowledge. With Headgear.