To be honest my heart can't take these boxers taking these freak show fights and laying an egg due to subpar conditioning.
Usyk dropped Rico badly in the 11th but Rico beat the count, Usyk landed some more and maybe one more punch would have dropped Rico again but it looks like the referee basically saved Usyk even if a KO was likely in the 12th.
Usyk looked slow, caught by punches, throwing looping shots that missed and had worse conditioning, seemed to have lost most rounds.
I would like to see Rico against another top heavyweight if this is not just Usyk fighting way below his level.
Lennox Lewis was crushed by a Rahman right hand after bouncing off the ropes because he was trying to be fancy while saving his legs. I remember Larry Merchant had the line of Lewis "drowning in Ocean's 11" as Lewis took a week off of training and shot a scene in the caper movie while due to Usyk taking his foot off of the pedal with his training and mental motivation he nearly drowned in the Caspian sea.
I think team Verhoeven will only take a rematch or another big money fight against an A list opponent like Fury or Joshua or a big money title shot against either an elevated Kabayel or Dubois. There is no need to get his bubble burst by an "easy opponent" as nobody is easy for a novice pro who scripted his game plan for the champion for 6 months, there is tape on the Dutch fighter now so people know his floor skills wise in the boxing ring.
Concerning the under card and it was poor day for most White fighters on the card as the PPV started with Daniel Lapin getting stopped by an opponent who really isn't much more than a gritty gatekeeper type club fighter. As long as Lapin doesn't protect his chin he will be vulnerable to knock outs with his very lean and long dimensions for a light heavyweight boxer.
In the next cross roads bout Richard Torrez was shockingly ko'd with essentially one punch in the second round of his IBF eliminator with Frank Sanchez. He crashed hard and stumbled up similar to Trevor Berbick in his title losing bout against Mike Tyson. If Torrez has a glass jaw his career could be in a death spiral as stocky pressure fighters need iron chins to compete with the elite of the division as you will get tagged when you are in your opponents punching range due to your short reach.
I saw a video of Torrez getting a one punch knock out loss to Jalolov at the AIBA world championships this could be a sign of having chin issues. Until this happens again I will give him a pass on this issue but it's a worrying sign if you are involved in Team Torrez.
Jack Catteral pulled off a minor upset by busting up and dropping Wonder Boy Giyasov who had no defensive answers for the lead right power hand of the English fighter. Catteral won the regular WBA title but he is expected to be upgraded to a full champion in the coming months as Rolly Romero seems to be angling for a big money bout and off of this tape will want nothing to do with the tricky southpaw.
And in the semifinal bout White but non ethnic German Alem Begic was battered around for 2 rounds until he was dropped by a body shot. He was never in this fight and if you let the long armed Sheeraz punch without fear of incoming punches he will walk through most opponents.
This was the only major bout on the card that went to betting form as either favorites were beaten soundly on points or battered in a shocking manner and as we discussed in previous posts Usyk was lucky to escape with his title.
