Usyk overcame a slow start to drop the former kickboxing champion in the 11th round before scoring the stoppage victory



In just his second pro boxing bout, Dutch kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven was one round and one second away from pulling the biggest upset in the sport's history.

Instead, unbeaten unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk overcame a notably flat performance to rally for a dramatic TKO win on Saturday that featured a controversial stoppage from referee Mark Lyson with just one second to go in Round 11 while Verhoeven (1-1) was still on his feet with the fight in the balance on the scorecards. The fight, contested for Usyk's WBC and WBA titles, took place outdoors at the historic Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and saw two judges have it even (95-95) and the third judge favoring Verhoeven 95-94 at the time of the stoppage.

The 37-year-old Verhoeven, who won his pro boxing debut in 2014 and has trained for 15 years under respected boxing coach Peter Fury amid defending the GLORY kickboxing heavyweight title a record 13 times as the promotion's recordholder for most career wins in his day job, looked like anything but a novice pugilist despite entering as an astronomical betting underdog.

"Yeah, of course, I thought it was an early stoppage," Verhoeven said. "In the end, it's not up to me. But still, I found it a little bit early. The referee knows we were nearly at the end of the round. Let me go out on my shield or let the bell go, that's what I thought. But, again, it's not up to me. I was already super thankful, as well, that Usyk took this fight."

The 6-foot-5 and muscular Verhoeven, who entered with slight height and reach advantages, outworked Usyk (25-0, 16 KOs) throughout behind a crouched pressure style and showed exceptional footwork, stamina and defense to give his future Hall-of-Fame opponent constant fits. Even more impressive was the way Verhoeven recovered from briefly being rocked in Rounds 4 and 10 as he remained a puzzle that the 39-year-old Usyk needed time to solve.

"Rico, you are an amazing fighter," Usyk said. "Thank you so much."

Verhoeven slightly outlanded Usyk, 113 to 112, according to CompuBox, and reduced the champion to single countershots -- including a consistently effective uppercut to counter Verhoeven's pressure -- for most of the fight.

After a slow start, Usyk brought the crowd to its feet in Round 4 when he broke Verhoeven down with clean combinations and briefly wobbled him before knocking his opponent's mouthpiece out with a clean hook. But after Usyk proved unable to drop or finish Verhoeven to close the round, his output dropped precipitously as Verhoeven continued to pressure.

Finally, in Round 10, Usyk rallied to hurt him again with a short right hook that caused the visibly hurt Verhoeven to seek shelter and clinch. That set the stage for a wild Round 11 as Usyk, knowing that he might need a knockout (CBS Sports also had Verhoeven ahead 95-94), walked down Verhoeven with flurries and counter shots.

Usyk retreated to the corner and used Verhoeven's forward momentum against him as he landed a brutal right uppercut that floored the kickboxer and sent him halfway through the ropes from the chest up. Although Verhoeven was able to beat the count, Lyson allowed him extra time to recover as Verhoeven's corner took its time rinsing out the fallen mouthpiece, which forced the mild-mannered Usyk to complain.

Verhoeven backed up into the corner and was picked apart with clean shots by Usyk, causing Lyson to jump in at 2:59 of Round 11. Although Verhoeven was badly hurt, the decision to stop such a championship fight given the time of the bout -- and the fact that Verhoeven was still standing -- will likely be debated for many years to come.

"What a transition it was -- six months of hard work transitioning from kickboxing to boxing," Verhoeven said. "I hope it all paid off and the fans were entertained. I'll be back."

Verhoeven's potential case for an immediate rematch was somewhat intercepted by the postfight pageantry as Usyk's WBC mandatory challenger, Agit Kabayel, was allowed into the ring to hype Usyk's next fight. But Saudi Arabian adviser and "The Ring" owner Turki Alalshikh commandeered the microphone to leave open the option for Usyk to fight Verhoeven again.

"There, on the line, both of them," Alalshikh said. "We want to see Kabayel [against Usyk] and we want to see the [Verhoeven] rematch in Holland."

Asked about his preference during the post-fight interview, Usyk failed to provide a clear answer.

"I can box both," Usyk said. "No problem."

CBS Sports was with you throughout the entire way on Saturday with live results and highlights below.

Usyk vs. Verhoeven fight card, results
o Oleksandr Usyk (c) def. Rico Verhoeven via 11th-round TKO
o Hamzah Sheeraz def. Alem Begic via second-round knockout
o Jack Catterall def. Shakhram Giyasov via unanimous decision (118-109, 119-108, 116-111)
o Frank Sanchez def. Richard Torrez Jr. via second-round knockout
o Mizuki Hiruta (c) def. Mai Soliman via (99-91, 100-90, 98-92, 98-92)

Usyk vs. Verhoeven scorecard
Round 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Total
Usyk (c) 10 9 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 TKO 94
Verhoeven 9 10 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 96

Source