I'm one of Usyk's biggest fans but this was an embarrassment for him and has put a massive stain on his career. Why are these stupid fighters taking these kind of fights, he better hope that he didn't really train for this bout because if this is the best current version we have, then he needs to retire ASAP because a loss is coming very soon. He probably thought he would come out of this smelling of roses, instead now we have a lingering bad smell, the fans have really soured towards him and he deserves this sort of reaction.
Having a close fight and then winning by KO. Oh... the horror, the horror! For **** sake, this is getting ridiculous!
Did Todd Grisham's old lady hysterics and Mike Coppinger's ****ing horrible scorecard get to you too? Come on! You're a smart boxing fan, Rico fought an incredible match, and brought a style that give Usyk fits. Even a keyed in Usyk that was closer to his prime would've shipped a few rounds to Rico.
Eh. He kinda had it coming and is getting pretty much the same reception as Fury did for his Ngannou fight. Ref stuffed up which isn't Usyk's fault. I think Usyk finishes it on the 12th but imo he was down on the cards.
He didn't just ship a few rounds did he, the vast majority of fans had him clearly behind. This was embarrassing for Usyk and has seriously hurt his legacy and rightly so.
No, I'm not, my scorecard reflected a close fight that it was. I had it dead even, but have no issue with anyone having Rico up a round, maybe 2, but that's it. Most viewers were so caught up in the... holy **** Rico is overperforming narrative, it blinded them to the reality, that in many rounds, Usyk was landing the sharper punches. While I said beforehand that I thought Rico was going to give Usyk hell and be a tougher opponent than many of the actual boxers he's fought. So I wasn't shocked by any of it. Which allowed me to keep a cooler head, and see the match more rationally.
And yet it was Usyk that face planted Rico through the ropes, Rico who was spitting his mouthpiece out to buy time, and Rico whose face looked like hammered beef. You don't think there's any possibility at all that you got swept up in the underdog doing better than expected and didn't give Usyk credit he deserved? The punch stats while not the be all end all had both guys dead even. Those rounds were close. You don't get points for shoulder charging your opponent to the ropes and clinching/rough housing with him. Argumentum ad populum: Argumentum ad populum (Latin for "appeal to the people") is a logical fallacy that incorrectly assumes a claim is true or good simply because a large number of people believe it or practice it. Also known as the bandwagon fallacy or appeal to popularity, it relies on the premise: "If many people believe it, it must be true."
I didn't mind what Fury said after that Ngannou "He was a good fighter and he gave me a good fight and that was it. I trained very well, I prepared very well and I don’t have any excuses or anything. It’s boxing. Some days you have good days and some days you don’t, and you crack on and continue and keep moving forward." You can sum it up in a similar way, it's still a fight between two guys with very different styles. Verhoeven showed he is a good fighter from those 11 rounds, we will find out how good when he boxes again. We will find out whether Usyk has faded when he boxes again.
It was definitely a bad hit to Usyks aura, and one that really had no reason to happen in the first place. Guy is 39 years old and could have retired a few fights ago without anyone complaining.