Kickboxing champion that pushed Alexander Usyk all the way until Usyk found a late knockout uppercut late on is making a big claim…
He is saying that he thinks he had been ahead at least 10 rounds in the fight recently in their heavyweight title fight before he got TKO’d.
That is a huge stretch there from him in latest boxing news, some things to bare in mind;
- Two of three judges had the fight completely level at 95-95 after 10 rounds – not a Rico blowout
- Only one judge gave Rico a single-round edge at 96-94
- CompuBox stats show Rico landed just one more total punch than Usyk (113 to 112) over 11 rounds
- Power punch advantage was only 93 to 89 – four punches, not a beating
- Usyk actually out-jabbed Rico 23 to 20, showing the champion was working behind his lead hand
- Round-by-round breakdown shows judges gave Rico the same rounds – 1, 2, 6, 7 and 9 – not a dominant 10-round sweep
- Even a pro-Rico observer on the forums had him only 6-4 ahead going into the 11th, nowhere near 10 rounds
- Usyk visibly hurt Rico in the 3rd and badly hurt him in the 11th – you can’t claim 10 rounds when you were buzzed
- Eddie Hearn, who scored it for Rico, only had him “a couple of rounds up” – not 10
- A 10-8 11th round would have put Usyk ahead on two cards going into the 12th – proving how razor-thin the lead actually was
Rico had been ahead on the card maybe by three or four rounds at most and he had been on course to get victory on points.
Usyk pulled it out at the last minute though and that is what counts.
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