Rico Verhoeven Questions Officiating in Oleksandr Usyk Fight

Rico Verhoeven suspected foul play in his fight with Oleksandr Usyk before the final bell sounded. Outrage from Usyk's controversial 11th-round stoppage win has spilled over from the weekend, but Verhoeven's suspicions arose earlier in the fight.

Usyk vs. Verhoeven was perceived as a big-budget carnival act in front of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Usyk was widely expected to have his way with Verhoeven. That's no disrespect to Verhoeven, arguably the greatest champion in Glory Kickboxing history. But he was a boxing novice against the best heavyweight boxer of his generation.

Verhoevn wildly exceeded expectations, taking the fight to Usyk from the beginning. Verhoeven believed he was well ahead, a sentiment shared by enough spectators to fuel speculation about external factors at play. The fight featured a rarely utilized open scoring system. Verhoeven was concerned once he was alerted to the judges' tallies through four rounds.

"There were 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," Verheven told Uncrowned . "Then we get the scorecards again after another four rounds."

Verhoeven's concerns weren't remedied as the fight progressed. Expecting to have a meaningful lead through eight rounds, the open scoring only intensified his suspicions.

"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," Verhoeven said. "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 beginning of the end came after Usyk landed a flush uppercut in Round 11. The punch left Verhoeven dangling through the bottom half of the ropes. The significance of the knockdown might have influenced the referee's trepidation to let the fight continue much longer. Verhoeven argues that he's overcome adversity numerous times, and he should've been given greater latitude against Usyk.

"If you look back at it, I got [hit by] the uppercut," he said. "For the people who 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 are only 10 seconds left. So let me keep my hands up, and let me get to the 12th round.'"

Verhoeven answered the count and, after a delay to retrieve his mouthpiece, was allowed to continue. Usyk immediately poured on the pressure with about 10 seconds left in the penultimate round. Verhoeven was convinced he could grit it out until the bell sounded. The seconds felt absurdly long to Verhoeven, who covered up in the corner against a barrage of incoming strikes. The referee intervened one to two seconds after the bell sounded. It should have signaled the end of Round 11. Instead, referee Mark Lyson waved off the fight.

"These 10 seconds are taking long right now," Verhoeven said. "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.

"I'm keeping my hands up, I'm responsive, I'm not gone or whatever, and they just wave it off. What?"

The result sparked immediate backlash online. The stoppage was unequivocally poor, but the fever around it has more to do with perception. Usyk was a massive 23-to-1 betting favorite heading into Egypt. The shocking competitiveness of the fight, paired with the broadcast team's reaction, painted a picture of Verhoeven's dominance. Multiple analysts watching at home believed the fight was very close. Their reading was in line with the judges.

After Round 10, two judges scored the fight 96-94 Verhoeven, while one judge had it tied 95-95. The Round 11 knockdown would've put Usyk slightly in the lead heading into the final round with momentum behind the unified boxing heavyweight champion.

Still, Verhoeven undoubtedly deserved one last round to shock the world. The premature stoppage robbed everyone of a fitting conclusion to arguably 2026's most surprising fight.

"To be honest, I deserved --  and the fans deserved -- to see that 12th round. Whatever the outcome would be," he said. "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."

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/boxing/news/rico-verhoeven-oleksandr-usyk-fight-referee-judges/)._