At the end of a long night, there was relief for Oleksandr Usyk in the shadow of the pyramids in the great Giza Plateau.
It finished with Rico Verhoeven in the arms of referee, Mark Lyson, with just one second left on the clock in round 11; there should be no debate about Lyson’s stoppage. A fight is finished by the referee with no consideration for the clock, just a desire to make sure that a boxer is healthy.
There is talk of an official appeal, talk that the bell to end the round sounded before Lyson had stopped the fight, but there is no technology that can register the exact end, no clock that stops, just a man jumping between two battered and bruised boxers. It is an inexact science, but it works.
The controversy surrounding the ending has helped shield Usyk from examination; the world heavyweight champion, unbeaten, untouchable in so many fights, and regal on both sides of the ropes, looked troubled throughout the fight. One judge correctly had Verhoeven in front going into round 11; two had it a kind draw. Usyk was close to defeat, closer than he had been for a very long time.
It is too easy to say that Verhoeven offered a style that Usyk could not solve; too simple to insist that Verhoeven’s size was the factor. The truth is that Usyk, who looked fleshy and heavy and lacked a sharp edge from the opener, was just off it all night. Verhoeven was expected to start fast, fade, and get stopped on his feet in about six or so rounds – perhaps Usyk believed the hype. It is more likely that he simply took his eyes off the prize. He is only human, and at 39, after nearly 30 years in the boxing trade, he can be excused for having a night off.
It is, perhaps, revealing that the first thing Usyk said when he was interviewed in the ring was not about the fight, but about a conversation he had with his daughter that very day. “She is in a bomb shelter,” he said. Have we become so immune to human disaster that we hear that and still question why a man did not look and fight like he normally does? The line was lost in all the screaming and shouting in the ring at the end.
Usyk has now won 14 world title fights across two weights in seven countries. He is a national idol in Ukraine and has beaten, in style, bigger and more dangerous men than Verhoeven. However, it looked like it was far more than just a bad night, a night when he had other things on his mind. It looked like the start of the end, and that can often be revealed in far more than just a decline in speed or reactions; Usyk looked like he was not enjoying the bout, and Verhoeven was heroic on the night. Usyk looked uncomfortable, and that is a problem. A sharper, younger and lighter Usyk would have solved Verhoeven and won in style.
Verhoeven will be an even bigger threat in the rematch, but Usyk walking away must surely be one of the options. Usyk is smart enough and rich enough not to become a victim of pride and hubris in a business he has dominated for so long.
