Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven scorecards spark mass outrage after Glory in Giza fight

Oleksandr Usyk defeated Rico Verhoeven via an 11th round stoppage in tonight’s ‘Glory in Giza’ clash, and the reveal of the fight’s scorecards has sparked fury.

Usyk suffered a depleted performance against kickboxer turned boxer Verhoeven, with fans, analysts and professionals largely tipping the former to prevail via decision leading up to the Round 11 stoppage.

The Ukrainian initially rocked Verhoeven with a violent uppercut in the 11th round, sending his opponent to the canvas, before the kickboxer beat the ten-count.

Upon standing, Usyk unloaded a stream of punches into Verhoeven, prompting the referee to stop the fight and proclaim the 39-year-old as still-undefeated heavyweight champion.

Shockingly, this stoppage occurred with just a single second of Round 11 remaining, prompting many to argue that Verhoeven had already been saved by the bell.

Usyk, whose record now stands at 25-0, with 16 victories coming by knockout, praised God, Verhoeven, and made a tragic post-fight admission following his victory.

Speaking on DAZN, Tony Bellew proclaimed Verhoeven’s performance as “[nearly] the biggest surprise boxing has ever seen," then added that it was the first time he had ever seen Usyk getting outworked on a consistent basis in the ring.

Usyk vs Verhoeven scorecards leave fans furious

Shortly after the battle, the ‘Glory in Giza’ scorecards were released on X (formerly Twitter) by Canadian journalist Ariel Helwani.

Through the 10th round of Usyk-Verhoeven, judges scored the fight 95-95, 95-95, and 96-94 Verhoeven, sparking fury within the boxing community.

Bellew, who fought and lost to Usyk for the undisputed cruiserweight championship in 2018, said: “At the back end of each round, [Usyk] was losing and getting out landed.

"Rico Verhoeven has come out of this a winner. His hand might not have been raised but given what we expected, he just nearly sprung the biggest surprise boxing has ever seen.

"We’ll never know whether Verhoeven would have made it out for Round 12 so we should probably do it again. It’s the least that boy deserves after the performance he’s just put in,” he continued.

The 39-year-old will now choose between Agit Kabayel or a Verhoeven rematch for his next fight, but Usyk seemingly accepted the former’s call-out on the night.

Verhoeven, who surely became a fan favourite after his astonishing performance against the Ukrainian this evening, told DAZN that the referee should have “let me go out on my shield.”

He said: "I thought it was an early stoppage. The referee knows we are almost at the end of the round. Either let me go out on my shield, let the bell go, or let us go out in the 12th.

“It was so close. I thought we were pretty equal on the scorecards,” continued Verhoeven.

Despite Verhoeven’s belief, and the belief of fans and analysts across the boxing world, the ‘Glory in Giza’ scorecards told a different story.

One fan online wrote: “Boxing has always been and will always be the most corrupt sport. It’s a part of boxing culture.”

Another added: “They completely exposed their own corruption when they announced mid fight that they were doing open scoring, and that it was 76-76. Absolutely rigged, no question about it.”

Usyk will seemingly face off against Kabayel in his next bout, but fans, analysts and former professionals are already clamouring for a Round II against Verhoeven following such a controversial ending.