He absolutely asked for this.
Unified Heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk retained his WBA, WBC and The Ring titles yesterday (Sat., May 23, 2026) with a wildly controversial 11th-round TKO stoppage victory over kickboxing superstar Rico Verhoeven in front of the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo, Egypt (watch highlights).
The problem?
A massive portion of the combat sports world believed Verhoeven was winning the fight before the referee abruptly stepped in during the championship rounds.
Instead of
quietly celebrating the victory and moving on, Usyk jumped onto X/Twitter afterward and invited fans to tell him what they thought of the fight.
That did not go well.
“What did you think of the fight? Share your thoughts in the comments,” Usyk wrote. “I’d be interested to read them!”
The replies instantly turned into a full-blown roast session.
“You were about to lose bud. I think you are a phenomenal fighter, but you were gonna either lose a decision or get bailed out. That was a bailout. Fight Rico in a Glory fight next. Winner is the best fighter.”
“You were outboxed, and the ref saved you.”
“Give up boxing and drive a forklift.”
“Rematch needed for you to continue to be great. If he isn’t your next fight, all respect is gone.”
“You looked rusty champ. Rico seemed to disrupt your timing, nice comeback but way too late. Were def losing the fight. Rematch is best.”
“Thought you got your ass whooped and then saved by a crooked ref/commission. What did you think?”
“You got beat, you cheated again, that was disappointing. You know in your heart Tyson Fury was right about you. That referee was a disgrace. If I were you, I would have called the referee out.”
“The ref was a disgrace. Terrible stoppage. I guess you had to win for the corrupted powers that be. Fury beat you in the 2nd fight too.”
“Rico whooped your ass and got robbed. Plain and Simple.”
To be fair, not everyone agreed with the outrage.
A decent number of fans defended the stoppage and argued Verhoeven was exhausted and moments away from being finished anyway.
“Ref saved Rico from getting KO’d in the 12th. He had nothing left.”
“You won the fight! From when Rico got knocked down, 30 seconds went by before he got back into the fight. He went back to his corner after the 10-second count for another 15-second break. Came back into the fight, taking 12 unanswered punches, most to the head.”
“Congratulations, Champ! Although, it was a great performance from Rico. He was your most challenging opponent in years, and it took you a long time (11th round) to figure him out.”
“Championship rounds make the champ. Rico gassed, got worked, and was saved from a KO in the 12th. Way to work, Usyk! F the haters.”“Ref spared your opponent the brain damage you were about to inflict upon him. Premature stoppage or not, this was a W for you.”
“You looked rusty, champ. Rico seemed to disrupt your timing, nice comeback but way too late.”
Still, the overall reaction online was overwhelmingly negative toward the ending.
And honestly, that probably should not surprise anybody.
Verhoeven entered the fight as a massive underdog making the transition from kickboxing to boxing, yet many viewers believed he was legitimately outworking one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of this generation before the stoppage chaos unfolded.
Which means there is now only one real solution:
Run it back … right?
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