The abandonment of the world championship duel between Usyk and Verhoeven is the subject of controversy. Now Peter Fury, father of former champion Tyson, has revealed that the referee openly and honestly admits his faux pas.
The world championship fight between heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk and kickboxing idol Rico Verhoeven continues to dominate the headlines. WBC world champion Usyk was in danger of losing the fight in front of the pyramids of Giza – until referee Mark Lyson stopped the fight at the final bell of the eleventh round.
The referee is now said to have admitted that his controversial decision on Saturday at the boxing spectacle in Egypt was based on a serious error. Peter Fury, father of former champion Tyson, revealed this to “IFL TV”. “The referee was on the same plane as me on the flight back,” said Fury senior. “I said to him: ‘You made a mistake.’ He then said to me – and this is very important – he said: ‘Peter, I didn’t hear the bell’.”
“Gift” to Usyk
Lyson had stopped the fight on Saturday in the last second of the eleventh round and declared Usyk, who was clearly behind on the scorecards at the time, the winner. At first, many spectators thought that the referee had only intervened to send the two boxers to their corners for a final break. But instead, the referee stopped the fight, which immediately triggered a wave of conspiracy theories. However, there is no doubt that it was a “gift” for the Ukrainian.
“This is a joke”
“That was an unfortunate stoppage. Rico deserved to continue the fight,” said organizer Turki Al-Sheik after the fight. “Unbelievable. This is a joke, and a very bad one. It’s absolutely not right,” criticized Bernd Bönte, long-time Klitschko manager and live on the microphone for DAZN. “You can’t say that Verhoeven was incapable of defending himself, and that’s the criterion. That’s really laughable.” And Tom Aspinall, British UFC fighter raged, “This is a fucking robbery! What the hell is this? Boxing doesn’t want anyone else to win. […] This is bullshit.”
Text: Frank Schwantes