Oleksandr Usyk has reacted to claims that his stoppage of Rico Verhoeven, which arrived shortly after an 11th-round knockdown, was premature.
The Ukrainian came through a tougher-than-expected night against Verhoeven last Saturday, hardly dispatching his opponent in the manner that many had anticipated.
He was, of course, an almighty pre-fight favourite against the Dutch kickboxer, who entered their heavyweight clash with only one prior professional boxing match to his name.
This came in 2014, when he scored a second-round finish over a man who subsequently retired with an unremarkable record of 0-6.
Usyk was therefore expected to handle Verhoeven with relative ease, only to find that he would be in for a long night at the office.
Indeed, Verhoeven enjoyed considerable success in the rounds leading up to his defeat, so much so that one of the judges had it 96-94 in his favour.
The other two scoring officials, meanwhile, had reached a 95-95 verdict by the time Usyk floored his man and put the finishing touches on his 11th-round stoppage.
Much of the criticism has subsequently been directed at referee Mark Lyson, who intervened at the sound of the bell after Verhoeven had risen to his feet.
In response to this, though, Usyk has told Boxing King Media that he pays little thought to the things that are largely beyond his control.
“I do not think about this. A lot of people say, ‘Hey, it’s early’. Listen, it’s not my job. My job is boxing.”
Despite suffering his first defeat in a professional boxing ring, Verhoeven gave a terrific account of himself and came surprisingly close to claiming Usyk’s WBC world title.
