Usyk /Rico Stoppage - Clean or Dodgy?

[johnmanchester]

What say you, and why

[gilgamesh]

I don't think it was an intentionally dirty stoppage, but it was a bad call.

[Spud MK2]

Slighty early

[joshj909]

Had the round been 10 seconds longer, Rico would've been flat on the floor. He spat his mouthpiece out for more time because he knew he was in trouble. He then didn't defend himself and it got called on the bell. Wouldn't have been bad to not call it but I don't think it was corruption to call it. With all that was going on, I wouldn't have been surprised if the ref didn't realise the bell was about to go.

[Loynesy]

There is nowhere is the refereeing teaching manual that says you need to be aware of the time of the round, just that you have to look out for the welfare of the fighter - he was gassed, if I had taken another left upper cut?

[881073]

It's a bit like Lewis Hamilton vs Max Verstappen. Everybody knows who is actually the best F1 driver, but everything to just keep the narrative alive.

A bit like Lennox Lewis vs Vitali Klitschko, except in manners that is, Dutch people usually stay classy.

[stac]

Good statement..thought Usyk looked done but i feel fathertime has arrived ..Verhoeven better than i thought... Bunce going about Torres last week..well bit bad wasn't he.. well done Sanchez. |

[Heldenjaeger]

Just watched it back on DAZN. The ref stopped it AFTER the bell rang. Clearly, for everybody to hear. He jumped in AFTER the bell. I don't know how that's even debatable. If that's not dodgy I don't know what is.

[Ruthless-RKO]

It took the ref 5 seconds to get in between and actually stop it.

When did the bell ring? Before he tried to intervene?

[Heldenjaeger]

It took the ref 5 seconds to get in between and actually stop it.

When did the bell ring? Before he tried to intervene?

Yes, bell rang while the ref was BEHIND Usyk and he then jumped in and waved it off a few seconds after the bell.

[stac]

The problem with novelty fights re Fury v Ngannou...might be harder than you think...Verhoeven takes great credit from this ...but re prior post i think Usyk doesn't like training .took it easy not sure...when you head towards 40 enjoy..do not box ...anymore...

[goose 5]

I also thought the bell rang before the stoppage. Any chance the ref didn't hear the bell ?

[DrDuke]

Clearly bad. Usyk wasn't landing clean, when the ref stepped in, and what's more important, it was stopped after the bell. How is it possoble?

[Kilburn]

A little bit early, but nowhere near early enough to leave a bad taste.

Great effort from Rico, really offered something different, but he was a sitting duck at the end there.

[Riddick Bowie]

As always in these situations, ask yourself if the referee would've been so quick to stop the fight if the roles were reversed.

Everyone reading this knows he would not have waved Usyk off.

I wish Turki would use his power to ban these referees. They save the script but ruin fights and the sport.

[Ricky]

Guy went face first into a huge uppercut and nearly went face first out the ring. The ref was close to calling it then.

I think that the heavy knockdown AND the fact he got extra recovery time for spitting the GS meant the ref (quite rightly) was giving him no leeway when the fight continued, he gloved up on the ropes and Usyk teed off on him. It looked slightly early but i'm fine with it given the circumstances.

[DrDuke]

Guy went face first into a huge uppercut and nearly went face first out the ring. The ref was close to calling it then.

And then it would have even been better than a stoppage after the bell.

[MasterG]

Good stoppage. I'm more concerned the judges cards. Most had Dutch clearly in front.

He tired himself out with constant work rate. Usyk had his number from the 10th. If the fight went I to the 12th Usyk would have knocked him out.

[golden_labrador]

There is nowhere is the refereeing teaching manual that says you need to be aware of the time of the round, just that you have to look out for the welfare of the fighter - he was gassed, if I had taken another left upper cut?

exactly

[Ricky]

Clearly bad. Usyk wasn't landing clean, when the ref stepped in, and what's more important, it was stopped after the bell. How is it possoble?

Huh? Usyk absolutely landed clean shots during the final flurry.

I really don't think boxing needs to be as forensic as this, the time at the end of the round was messed up because of the gumshield coming out, not to mention the ref can argue that the fights over in the instant he decides it's over, rather than the physical act of him trying to separate his way in between 2 heavyweights.

[joshj909]

Good stoppage. I'm more concerned the judges cards. Most had Dutch clearly in front.

He tired himself out with constant work rate. Usyk had his number from the 10th. If the fight went I to the 12th Usyk would have knocked him out.

I wonder how much if that was due to 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...

[DrDuke]

Clearly bad. Usyk wasn't landing clean, when the ref stepped in, and what's more important, it was stopped after the bell. How is it possoble?

Huh? Usyk absolutely landed clean shots during the final flurry.

I really don't think boxing needs to be as forensic as this, the time at the end of the round was messed up because of the gumshield coming out, not to mention the ref can argue that the fights over in the instant he decides it's over, rather than the physical act of him trying to separate his way in between 2 heavyweights.

I don't know, how those punches were clean. Have you seen the slow motion replay?

[Heldenjaeger]

Good stoppage. I'm more concerned the judges cards. Most had Dutch clearly in front.

He tired himself out with constant work rate. Usyk had his number from the 10th. If the fight went I to the 12th Usyk would have knocked him out.

I wonder how much if that was due to 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...

CompuBox is crap and honestly we should stop pretending it’s some authoritative metric. Half the time punches hitting gloves get counted as clean connects. It’s literally old guys with two-second reaction times mashing buttons at ringside at 1am trying to track exchanges in real time.

There’s no reason boxing should still rely on that in 2026. Let’s be honest with ourselves.

[joshj909]

Good stoppage. I'm more concerned the judges cards. Most had Dutch clearly in front.

He tired himself out with constant work rate. Usyk had his number from the 10th. If the fight went I to the 12th Usyk would have knocked him out.

I wonder how much if that was due to 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...

CompuBox is crap and honestly we should stop pretending it’s some authoritative metric. Half the time punches hitting gloves get counted as clean connects. It’s literally old guys with two-second reaction times mashing buttons at ringside at 1am trying to track exchanges in real time.

There’s no reason boxing should still rely on that in 2026. Let’s be honest with ourselves.

Ok, go and count them yourselves and come back and tell us what you saw. It's not an absolute authoritative metric but it's all we have.

[Riddick Bowie]

Good stoppage. I'm more concerned the judges cards. Most had Dutch clearly in front.

He tired himself out with constant work rate. Usyk had his number from the 10th. If the fight went I to the 12th Usyk would have knocked him out.

Had the fight been referreed fairly it would have continued to an epic 12th round and we would have had a satisfying definitive conclusion.