On Saturday night, Oleksandr Usyk controversially defeated Rico Verhoeven in a shockingly close clash for the heavyweight crown. Now, his former promoter, Alex Krassyuk, has revealed how he scored the fight and gave the Ukrainian ruler some words of advice.
Written off by the masses, Verhoeven came close to shocking the world at the weekend, with his unconventional style causing serious trouble for the standout heavyweight of this generation – who seemed uncharacteristically flat-footed.
As the final round approached, many viewers had Verhoeven ahead on the scorecards, appearing to be on the verge of one of boxing’s most astonishing upsets, but a flurry of shots from Usyk at the end of round 11 instead drew a questionable stoppage from referee Mark Lyson.
Speaking to Boxing King Media, Krassyuk admitted that he had given Usyk only three rounds on his scorecard prior to the stoppage.
“I had [given] Usyk three rounds. 7-3 [to Verhoeven], yes.”
“I made a post on Instagram, I think that the judges were so impressed with what they were seeing, that they kept granting Usyk the rounds that he actually lost, or that were very, very close.”
Krassyuk went on to label Saturday as ‘the toughest fight of Usyk’s career’, before encouraging his former fighter to walk away from the sport with his legacy intact.
“He [Usyk] has to stop. It is better to leave one hour before than two minutes after. Unfortunately, this is the truth, it concerns, not sure just boxing, it concerns every single thing. It concerns you, it concerns me, it concerns every one of us.
“You can’t earn all of the money in the world. You can’t beat every fighter in the world. You need to take this decision [to retire] and this is a very difficult decision for a man like Usyk, being in his prime, being on top, being unbeaten, and to leave.
“From the bottom of my heart, I wish him to retire at his prime and being remembered for ages, [as] one of the most prominent and greatest fighters of all time.”
Usyk is now being linked to a showdown against WBC mandatroy challenger Germany’s Agit Kabayel in September, although Turki Al-Sheikh made it clear he believes Verhoeven deserves a rematch.
