Oleksandr Usyk stops Rico Verhoeven to retain WBC heavyweight title | Boxing news

Oleksandr Usyk defended his WBC heavyweight title but only after surviving an almighty scare with an 11th-round stoppage of kickboxer Rico Verhoeven in Giza.

Verhoeven came within striking distance of staging one of boxing’s biggest upsets in his second professional fight, bullying and overwhelming an off-color Usyk.

The undefeated unified heavyweight champion trailed on the scorecards heading into the penultimate round but landed a crisp right uppercut to change the complexion of the contest.

At 2:59 of round 11 the referee controversially sent Usyk to the canvas for the first time before a barrage of punches.

Usyk, 39, was not moving freely and was caught several times in the middle rounds as the pace slowed.

Verhoeven was under pressure on the ropes with a threat of an upset before the Ukrainian responded with a left late in the round, catching Usyk with a powerful right hand in the eighth.

Verhoeven again forced Usyk back to the ropes in the ninth round and kept up the pressure in the 10th round, but Usyk survived late in the 11th round and landed the decisive blow.

‘Let me out on my shield’

Speaking on DAZN, Verhoeven felt the fight was prematurely stopped.

“I thought it was an early stop,” he said. “The referee knows we’re almost at the end of the round.

“Either let me go out on my shield, let the bell ring, or let us go out in the 12th. It was very close. I thought we were pretty even on the scorecard.”

‘First time Usyk outworked’

Former cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellew believes a rematch is in order after Verhoeven came within seconds of shocking the boxing world.

“That’s the only time in his entire career that I’ve seen Usyk consistently outworked,” he said. “At the back end of every round, he was losing and landing.

“Rico Verhoeven came out of this a winner. His hand may not have been extended but what we hoped for, he just happened to be the biggest surprise boxing has ever seen.

“We’ll never know if Verhoeven made it to Round 12 so we should probably do it again. The lad deserved the least after the performance he put in.”

Shiraz, Catterall claimed the world title

Hamzah Shiraz captured his first world title with a devastating second round stoppage of previously unbeaten Alem Bezic in their WBO super-middleweight title fight.

It took just two rounds for Shiraz’s physical dominance to overwhelm the German, who failed to beat the count after being dropped by a sick body shot.

Jack Catterall will get a shot at the WBA welterweight world title after a comprehensive points win over Shakharam Giyasov.

The Chorley fighter scored a knockdown in the first round and controlled the contest throughout, claiming the WBA ‘regular’ welterweight belt and earning a mandatory shot at WBA ‘super’ champion Rolando Romero.

The fight was scored 118-109, 119-108 and 116-111 in favor of Catterall.