Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk survived a scare to earn an 11th-round stoppage against Rico Verhoeven, a Dutch kickboxer who pushed the undefeated Ukrainian to his limits on Saturday.
In a chaotic ending, the 39-year-old Usyk dropped the challenger late in the penultimate round, and referee Mark Lyson waved it off at 2:59 after Usyk pounced when Verhoeven beat the count shortly before the bell.
“I thought it was an early stoppage but in the end it’s not up to me,” Verhoeven said moments later while still in the ring with the Pyramids of Giza in the background.
Usyk (25-0, 16 KOs) holds the WBC, WBA and IBF belts. For the 37-year-old Verhoeven, it was just his second time fighting as a boxer.
“Thank you so much, Rico, you are an amazing fighter,” said Usyk, who dedicated the win to “Ukrainian people and Ukrainian soldiers.”
The 6-foot-5 Verhoeven, whose only previous fight as a boxer was a victory in 2014, had some observers thinking back to Buster Douglas’ stunning upset of Mike Tyson in 1990. The former kickboxing champion was able to slow Usyk with body shots and make him look sluggish at times.
“I thought we were pretty equal on the scorecards,” said Verhoeven, who was only eligible to win the WBC belt.
Cuban heavyweight stuns Olympic medalist Torrez
On the undercard, U.S. heavyweight Richard Torrez Jr. was knocked out by Cuba’s Frank Sanchez, who dropped the Californian with a crunching right to the face in the second round.
Torrez, who won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, tried to beat the count but stumbled back down to the canvas. It’s the first pro loss for the American after 14 victories. Sanchez (26-1, 19 KOs) put himself in line for an IBF title fight.
Britain’s Hamzah Sheeraz (23-0-1, 19 KOs) won the vacant WBO super middleweight title with a second-round knockout of Alem Begic, finishing the German with a body shot.
Mizuki Hiruta of Japan dominated Mai Soliman over 10 rounds to retain her WBO junior bantamweight title via unanimous decision.
