Papa Roche retweetledi
It wasn't a robbery.
I had it 6-4 to usyk, but could see it 5-5 or 4-6, a few tight rounds in there. the official cards said the same thing. Two judges had it 95-95, one had Rico up 96-94. The knockdown was real and Usyk dropped him fair and square.
But no dobut about it this was the worst Usyk has ever looked.
Slow, distracted, a step behind all night. He almost looked like he aged overnight in there.
Hard not to wonder what was on his mind. Kyiv was being hit again the same night he was fighting. I can't imagine carrying that into a ring.
And then Rico. My word.
Better than anyone could have dared imagine. He looked MASSIVE in there, and i cant believe with that frame, and how much he was moving, that he did not fade down the stretch. If anything he was the fresher man at the end. That size and that pace caused Usyk every kind of problem.
One thing I will say though. The commentary was extremely one-sided. They missed a lot of what Usyk was actually doing in there. I think they were in genuine shock at how competitive it was, and all that extra surprised credit they kept handing Rico made it sound like he was having all the success. It wasn't one-way traffic. It was a close fight, and it should have been called like one.
Then the uppercut. A cracking shot in the 11th by Usyk, exactly when the championship rounds demanded it. And this is what Usyk does time and time again. The deeper a fight gets, the more he finds. He digs down and pulls something extra out to get the win. Special, Special fighter.
If you spit your mouthguard out on purpose, you should forfeit the right to put it back in until the end of the round. The time wasting at the most climactic moment of the night was horrible to watch.
If Rico wanted the fight to continue, throw a punch, try to hold, do SOMETHING in the final 10 seconds. Standing there and letting Usyk line you up was always going to end one way.
The pyramids lit up behind the ropes is an image boxing won't forget in a hurry. Pretty good execution from Turki after the Times Square show was a failure.
So where now.
I hope Usyk retires on this. 25-0, nothing left to prove, and tonight looked like a man at the very end of a long, great road.
And I'd love to see Rico get another fight at heavyweight. On this evidence, I want to know how far he can actually take this. Feed him to Itauma and lets see what Itauma can do to him.
#UsykVerhoeven
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