Usyk vs Rico Full Fight Review: Woeful Usyk Nearly Became Biggest Upset Of All Time

We said going in Usyk was acting strange this year and in decline in training but this was something else from him.

The heavyweight champion elected to fight a man with just one professional boxing match this weekend.

Something that never happened before in boxing history.

He nearly lost to him and was doing shocking in the fight with him on the cards up until he managed to pull off a late stoppage to avoid the defeat.

Here’s what happened as we saw it in our Usyk vs Rico full fight review:

Round 1

• Verhoeven won the round, landed a couple of eye-catching shots and heavy body shots 
• Used lots of movement, avoided Usyk’s punches 
• Usyk looked patient, stayed elusive, appeared to use round to read opponent 
• Verhoeven pushed Usyk to ropes, landed a right to the body at the end 

Round 2

• Verhoeven pressed forward, threw lots of shots, kept Usyk on back foot 
• Usyk respected Verhoeven’s power; Verhoeven dominated with better output and accuracy 
• Verhoeven landed uppercuts and body shots, leaned on Usyk on ropes 

Round 3

• Verhoeven continued as aggressor, landed biggest shot of the fight and a big body shot 
• Usyk responded with his own shots, started finding range with counter shots and uppercuts 
• Verhoeven drove Usyk to ropes, punched in clinch 

Round 4

• Usyk went all out, landed succession of head shots and right hands that had Verhoeven disorganized 
• Verhoeven hurt but not stopped; landed couple shots of his own before round ended 
• Verhoeven’s gumshield dislodged during exchanges 

Round 5

• Tight round, tough to split 
• Verhoeven smelling blood, stunned Usyk and looked for finish; Usyk remained patient 
• Both landed grazing hooks; Verhoeven manhandled Usyk into ropes again 

Round 6

• Verhoeven took round impressively, fought well up close and popped Usyk with jabs 
• Verhoeven landed jab and long left hook, leaned on Usyk 
• Neither fighter did much damage; some cards gave round to Usyk 

Round 7

• Verhoeven continued landing big, powerful shots; Usyk looked bamboozled 
• Verhoeven buckled Usyk’s knees with clattering shot 
• Verhoeven found success with multiple power shots 

Round 8

• More of same from Verhoeven; Usyk looked like he understood he was close to defeat 
• Usyk ended round on high note showing urgency 
• Verhoeven connected with massive right hand, had Usyk on ropes 

Round 9

• Rounds 9-10 went mostly in Verhoeven’s favor 
• Verhoeven beat down Usyk, clear round for Verhoeven 
• Usyk kept moving forward but not showing enough urgency 

Round 10

• Verhoeven pressed Usyk back, landed solid looping right hand to head 
• Usyk finally showed urgency late, turned Verhoeven and landed big hooks 
• Usyk caught Verhoeven at end of round with shot that made him think he could knock him out 

Round 11

• Usyk started sitting down on punches, dropped Verhoeven with right uppercut with ∼20 seconds left 
• Verhoeven’s mouthpiece fell out; referee called timeout to replace it 
• Action resumed, Usyk unleashed barrage; referee stopped fight at 2:59 of round 11, one second left 
• Official result: Usyk def. Verhoeven via TKO, Round 11, 2:59 

Usyk’s comments afterwards were clown-like to say the least.

He gave no explanation how a man with just one professional boxing match to his resume, who competed for a heavyweight title, almost defeated him.

No info on what went wrong, what happened in training or anything.

Usyk is now in dramatic decline clearly with this showing as much.

A very weak heavyweight era with him as champion but a highly entertaining undercard that had much knockouts like Frank Sanchez here and action on the plus point in Egypt.