Usyk avoids monumental upset with late stoppage against Verhoeven in WBC title fight
Oleksandr Usyk secured a controversial 11th-round stoppage victory over kickboxer Rico Verhoeven in Giza, Egypt, preventing a major upset in their WBC heavyweight title bout on Saturday.
Andreas Hale May 23, 2026, 07:28 PM ET Close Andreas Hale is a combat sports reporter at ESPN. Andreas covers MMA, boxing and pro wrestling. In Andreas' free time, he plays video games, obsesses over music and is a White Sox and 49ers fan. He is also a host for Sirius XM's Fight Nation. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior writer at DAZN and Sporting News. He started his career as a music journalist for outlets including HipHopDX, The Grammys and Jay-Z's Life+Times. He is also an NAACP Image Award-nominated filmmaker as a producer for the animated short film "Bridges" in 2024. Follow on X
_Originally reported by [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48856437/usyk-avoids-upset-verhoeven-last-second-stoppage)._
Comments
Loading comments…