Rico Verhoeven reveals exact moment he noticed Oleksandr Usyk fight felt 'fishy'

Kickboxing titan Rico Verhoeven has explained why his second boxing match, a loss against Oleksandr Usyk in Egypt on Saturday, felt 'fishy'.

Usyk retained the WBC heavyweight title by virtue of a stoppage in the 11th round at the Pyramids of Giza. The fight was also recorded as a successful defence of the WBA and IBF belts despite the titles not being winnable for the challenger.

The stoppage went down badly with the Dutch fighter, who clearly believes the odds were stacked against him from the start.

It was a decision that's been widely criticised within the boxing community and Verhoeven, who wants a rematch, has appealed the result.

"After round eight and still we're even, you’re like, ‘This starts to feel fishy,’ because I feel like I’m winning these rounds," Verhoeven said on The Ariel Helwani Show.

"I look at certain rounds, and I’m like, ‘How did I lose that?’ He didn’t even touch me, maybe more than once or twice, and I hit him four, five, six times."

Ukrainian Usyk remains unbeaten with a professional boxing record of 25 wins. He has held multiple world title belts since he defeated Anthony Joshua at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2021.

36-year-old Verhoeven was in the boxing ring for the first time since 2014, a factor he claims is behind his frosty treatment in open scoring in Egypt at the weekend.

He has an impressive record across a 20-year kickboxing career. He hasn't been beaten for more than a decade – he hasn't even needed to rely on a split decision in that time – and has achieved a total of 66 wins and 10 losses.

'Let me go out on my shield'

The fight was closer than Verhoeven's suggestion that he felt he'd won eight of the ten completed rounds.

Verhoeven landed one punch more than his opponent, who came on strong in the 11th round after three in a row as the less effective puncher.

Two of the judges had the fight scored at 95-95 prior to the 11th-round stoppage, with the third scoring 96-94 in favour of Verhoeven.

"I wanted the referee to let me go out on my shield or let me go in the twelfth," Verhoeven told the media after the fight.

"I felt we were pretty even on the scorecards. I am really thankful for everyone who came out. We are at the pyramids! Thank you so much."

"I am super proud of my performance and hopefully, the boxing world embraces me as a boxer. I am amazingly happy to be here."