Rico Verhoeven aims to appeal the Oleksandr Usyk result

Rico Verhoeven and his corner are not satisfied with the Oleksandr Usyk fight result

'The King of Kickboxing' Rico Verhoeven is determined to appeal the result of his fight with Oleksandr Usyk, as he believes the fight was stopped after the bell sounded.

The Dutchman exceeded expectations by catching Usyk many times, especially with his right hook, bringing awkwardness, size, aggression and pressure to just his second pro boxing fight.

He made it all the way to the penultimate 11th round before being dropped by an accurate right uppercut. He returned to his feet, but was swarmed by a dozen unanswered punches, causing the referee to step in, but the intervention occurred approximately two seconds after the bell sounded.

Verhoeven told Boxing News: “They stopped the fight after the bell. I think we’re just going to go ahead and file an appeal because this makes no sense. When the referee intervened, I wasn’t dazed or anything like that. I looked at him thinking: Why are you stopping it?

“We were so close to making it to the end. It’s totally absurd. The referee must be aware of what he’s doing. Of course, mistakes happen, but he needs to admit his error. They should review the footage and declare the fight a no contest or go to the judges’ scorecards.

“And if they went to the cards, at that point I was ahead on points.”