Jake Paul and Francis Ngannou were among those baffled by the referee’s decision to stop Oleksandr Usyk’s fight with Rico Verhoeven in the 11th round of their WBC heavyweight world title fight.
Usyk produced a stunning comeback knockout in the penultimate round against Verhoeven having spent much of the bout struggling to contain the Dutchman.
Verhoeven got back to his feet after a heavy knockdown but the referee quickly stepped in to stop the contest just as the bell sounded.
Paul called the stoppage “insane” insisting Verhoeven was winning the fight until that moment.
“Let him go to the corner and take the minute,” Paul said.
“But if that’s me in Rico’s corner I’m steaming with that stoppage.”
Verhoeven had just one boxing fight to his name before taking on the unbeaten Usyk, having spent the best of his fighting career in kickboxing.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou himself crossed into boxing from MMA when he took on Tyson Fury in 2023, losing a controversial split decision after dropping the Briton.
Ngannou agreed with Paul’s view of the fight, saying: “Outsiders will never win, trust me I know, but Rico was the winner tonight. Period.”
Retired light-middleweight world champion Sergio Mora called the incident an “embarrassing stoppage”.
“Somehow the referee robbed both fighters tonight by robbing Rico from glory and Usyk from getting comeback from behind [and a]12th-round knockout,” he said.
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‘Referee helped Usyk’
Usyk would have narrowly gone in front on the scorecards with a 10-8 round in the 11th, leaving the fight finely balanced in the final round.
While many disagreed with the time of the stoppage, not everyone agreed letting Verhoeven continue would have seen him win on points.
Four-weight world champion Shakur Stevenson said the referee “robbed” the public of a definitive ending to the fight.
“Usyk turned it on when he needed. The referee helped for sure but who’s to say Usyk wasn’t [going to] get him out of there, he had plenty time,” he said.
“Bad night in the office, don’t look like [Usyk] was in tip-top shape to me.”
Tony Bellew was knocked out by Usyk in their cruiserweight world title fight in 2018 and said he had never seen the Ukrainian “out-worked” before in his career.
“I don’t think Rico would have been ready to career on in the 12th. He was done, he was spent. But a massive part of that is down to experience,” Bellew said.
“We probably should do it again.”
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Richie Woodhall said there would be “questions asked” about the referee’s decision but called for a rematch to settle the matter.
Verhoeven welcomed a rematch and said he intended to continue boxing, whether he fought Usyk again or not.