Oleksandr Usyk avoided disaster, but was aided by a controversial premature stoppage

That Usyk, the reigning unified heavyweight champion of the world, was losing the fight to the kickboxing legend was downright jaw-dropping as the seismic shock of one of the biggest upsets in boxing history was snowballing and nearly coming to fruition.

He took dangerously long, but Usyk ultimately figured Verhoeven out with an 11^th-round TKO courtesy of a picture-perfect right uppercut that he detonated to drop the kickboxing icon. Even then, Usyk was aided by a premature stoppage that came a second before the fight headed into the 12^th round.

There was no doubt that Usyk badly hurt Verhoeven with the piercing uppercut that exploded onto the Dutch fighter’s chin with 25 seconds left in the 11^th round. Badly hurt, Verhoeven made it to his feet gingerly before the referee inexplicably gave him time to put his mouthpiece back in.

When the fight resumed, Verhoeven was on shaky legs, and Usyk charged right in with a right-left combination, unloading more punches that followed. The 15-time heavyweight kickboxing world champion took shelter in the corner, the best he could, eating some punches, fending off others. Damaged, Verhoeven was definitely still game — and deserving to be given the extra tick to enter the 12^th and final round.

But the referee stepped in and ended it right then and there at the 2:59 mark of the penultimate round, and DAZN commentator Todd Grisham spoke for us all when he yelled: “What are you doing, referee? WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This is for the heavyweight championship of the world.”

He’s 100% right. Usyk definitely hurt Verhoeven and put him on unsteady legs, but ‘The King of Kickboxing’ deserved the benefit of the doubt in the moment to step foot into the 12^th round.

There’s no doubt about it — the stoppage was egregious.

Prior to that point, Verhoeven was winning the fight. He was using plodding movement as the bigger man to suffocate Usyk’s space, and the two-time undisputed heavyweight king and current unified titleholder frankly looked lethargic.

Usyk lacked the rhythmic bounce and sweet science wizardry we’ve become so accustomed to seeing from him and was basically three minutes and one second away from losing the fight via a lopsided, totally unforeseen decision.

At the end, Usyk found a way to escape with his championship in tow thanks to that slicing uppercut. But the referee’s premature stoppage was like a get-out-of-jail card, too.