Verhoeven believes the scorecards were odd in his controversial
loss against Oleksandr Usyk.
Verhoeven challenged Usyk for the WBC heavyweight title last
weekend in Giza, Egypt. Verhoeven dictated most of the fight before
he was dropped by Usyk late in the 11th round. While Verhoeven got
back up, Usyk followed up with a flurry, which was enough for the
referee to stop the fight with a second left in the
round.
Apart from the controversial stoppage, the scorecards also felt
“fishy” to Verhoeven. The bout had open scoring, where the
scorecards were revealed to the fighters after every four rounds.
Despite evidently leading in the early rounds, Verhoeven was
slightly surprised to find out that the scorecards were even after
the first four rounds. When the scorecards read as even after eight
rounds, Verhoeven felt something was off. Verhoeven believes the
open scoring even affected his performance. With the scorecards
being even after eight rounds, Verhoeven felt that he needed to put
his foot on the gas to prove himself, as he was a kickboxer
challenging a boxing champion.
Scored Through a Boxing Lens?
“There were open scorecards, and after four rounds we got
scorecards,” Verhoeven said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “We were
like, ‘Hey, we’re even.’ I was like, ‘Hmm, ok.’ I felt like it was
at least 3 to 1, but ok, we’re even, that’s fine. Then we got the
scorecards again after another four rounds…. And still we were
even. It started to feel fishy because I felt like I was winning
these rounds. I was working more, I was getting hit less and I was
touching him more… So maybe I have to push it a little bit more;
it’s getting looked at through a protective boxing lens. So maybe,
because I’m an outsider, I have to put in that extra work to be
even more convincing.”
When the fight was stopped, two scorecards still had it even, while
Verhoeven was leading on the third.
Rico
Verhoeven explains how the open scoring affected his mindset
during the Usyk fight:“There were open scorecards and after 4 rounds, they said we’re
even. I was like, ‘Hmm, ok.’ I felt like it was at least 3 to 1,
but ok, we’re even, that’s fine.Then we got the scorecards… pic.twitter.com/neFl83JiXk
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani)
May 26, 2026