1 hour ago
3
Rico Verhoeven, the Dutch former kickboxer who has switched to boxing, wants an apology as well as a rematch, after being stopped one second before the end of the penultimate round in a WBC title bout with unified world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk last Saturday.
The stoppage was controversial, with Verhoeven feeling he could have continued and some replays suggesting the bell may have rung before the referee signalled the end of the fight — only Verhoeven’s second since switching to boxing — at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
Scorecards published by The Ring magazine afterwards showed two of the three judges had the fight tied 95-95 going into the 11th of 12 rounds and the other had Verhoeven ahead 96-94.
“[I want] just an apology. What else can we do? I can’t demand anything else,” Verhoeven told the BBC on Thursday, adding that his team had lodged an appeal with the WBC.
“Mistakes can be made because we’re all human and that’s OK. But all I’m looking for actually is: ‘Yeah, sorry guys, this could have gone differently — this is something we have to look at and hopefully this doesn’t happen in the future.’ That’s it and then let’s continue from there and get to the rematch.”
Germany’s Agit Kabayel is the WBC’s mandatory challenger and Usyk could have to fight him first before any rematch with Verhoeven.
“Let’s see what pops up next,” said Verhoeven. “But I have to be honest, it’s got to be big. I feel like I’m the uncrowned king.”
English (US)