Rico Verhoeven came close to scoring a mammoth upset over Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night, but he perhaps should have been even closer.
The Dutch kickboxing star had fought boxed professionally just once before taking on Usyk for his WBC heavyweight title in Giza, Egypt.
Few gave the 37-year-old any chance against the unbeaten Ukrainian, with Verhoeven’s odds around 12/1 to upset the champion.
The fight did not go as most expected, though, with the rookie boxer getting the better of the 24-0 heavyweight ruler for much of the contest.
Usyk managed to roar back late on and knocked down Verhoeven late in the 11th round.
The underdog got to his feet and Usyk poured on the punishment again, with the referee stepping in to stop the contest, despite the bell ringing to end the round.
Verhoeven was in big trouble but still had his senses and immediately questioned why Mark Lyson had ended the bout.
‘Of course I thought it was an early stoppage, but in the end, it’s not up to me,’ Verhoeven said. ‘Still, I found it a little bit early.
‘I believe that the referee knows that we’re almost at the end of the round. Let me go out on my shield or let the bell go. That’s what I thought, but like I said, it’s not up to me.
‘It was so close. Let me go out on my shield or go into the 12th. I was close. We were pretty equal on the score cards, or at least that’s what I felt like.’
Verhoeven was right that the scorecards were close, but perhaps too close given that he appeared to be winning the fight until the stoppage.
After 10 rounds, two judges scored the fight level at 95-95, while one had Verhoeven ahead 96-94.
However, if the fight had not been stopped, Usyk would have won the 11th 10-8, so would have been ahead on two scorecards and level on the other going into the final round.
Many would see this as an unfair reflection of the fight, but it was extremely close, as shown by the punching stats.
Verhoeven marginally out-landed Usyk with the Dutchman landing 113 pinches and 93 power punches to the Ukrainian’s 112 and 89 respectively.
Speaking backstage, Verhoeven said: ‘To be completely honest I just saw the end and they stopped the fight after the bell. We might just go and appeal it because this doesn’t make any sense. The bell goes and stop the fight? Why?
‘Right away when the referee came in I wasn’t dazzled, I was looking at the referee and like, “why are you stopping it? We’re almost there!” Looking back at it, even the bell went and that’s something he should be aware of.
‘Mistakes can be made, but looking back at it, the referee should admit his mistake.’
There will be calls for a rematch, but Usyk’s next opponent was seemingly set up as Agit Kabayal stepped into the ring to face off with him after the fight.