Elucidating Those Boggled Of Mind On What Transpired In The Great Usyk-Verhoeven Cataclysm Of 2026.

Look, I understand, there's plenty of people that were utterly gobsmacked, left confused, disoriented in a state of shock at what we all witnessed. But fret no longer, I'll do my absolute best to do what I do best, which is putting things in their proper perspective and making sense of it all! First off, all of the insecure venomous bias fueled haters doing their level best to denigrate Usyk after one off performance. Tearing him down, and using this to highlight what they've long claimed, that he was overrated. All they're doing is making utter fools of themselves, and exposing what casual know nothing ****wits they truly are. Either that, or they're intentionally being intellectually dishonest to push an agenda, because all that matters to them, is winning even a small handful over to their cause, and claiming ground in their immature propaganda war. Then there's the idiotic MMA and Kickboxing bros on X, and in the rest of social media, doing their level best to act shocked and appalled at the stoppage or scorecards, just so they can push their ultra transparent "MMA is superior" narrative, that they're willing to use anything at the disposal to move forward. Even when it ironically further validates just how superior Boxing truly is. Because ultimately, AJ obliterated Ngannou, much smaller Floyd embarrassed MacGregor and yes Usyk knocked out Verhoeven.

Yes, the referee arguably leapt in too soon. But all it did was rob Usyk of putting an exclamation point on what up until then, was a quite uneven performance. Verhoeven wasn't robbed of anything. He performed magnificently, fought out of his skin and brought the damned near perfect game plan to the dance to beat Usyk. But he still ended up falling short. While I understand, that's tragic, but that's just the unforgiving nature of the sport of boxing now isn't it? One can put forth an absolute masterclass, and get brutally knocked the **** out in the last 5 seconds. That's just life in the squared circle, it happens all the time. Now, as far as the scoring goes. Mike Coppinger is a buffoon with some of the worst scorecards in the sport, it's baffling to me how anyone would give him a job. Then add in Darren Barker, Barry Jones and Adam Smith to the mix, they're expert narrative crafters and pushers, who are easily swept up in the moment and overstate the severity of what's actually occurring. Now add in the most egregious commentator of all, Todd Grisham, who's also a commentator for Glory Kickboxing and has called many of Rico's matches. The outrageousness of his hysterical overreactions especially at the stoppage, highlight that he clearly had a horse in this race that he was rooting for.

Now... of course, when they saw Usyk struggling more than usual, they doubled down and amplified that more and more as the match progressed. Because it didn't go the way they expected it to, it short circuits their brains and they simply cannot process what they're seeing. While also overreacting to shots that aren't actually landing, and reacting to body language more than punch accuracy. One can look tremendously uncomfortable while also landing the cleaner punches. It's the classic Rico was winning the story of the fight trope. All the while, Usyk was still consistently picking him off, blocking incoming fire and landing with almost equal measure. While looking passive, confused and flustered. So visually it gives the impression that Rico is winning walking away, but in reality, those who are far more perceptive and keyed into what is and isn't actually landing. Are seeing the far clearer picture. Now am I saying Rico didn't deserve multiple rounds, no I'm not. Based on clean punches landed, Rico won between 5 and 6 of them. While Usyk won between 4 and 5. All of the people who claim otherwise, either don't know what they're watching or are just conveniently pretending like they don't know what they're watching because they have an ax to grind. Objectivity be damned, all comprehension of slickness, defense and accuracy vanishes when there's an opportunity to tear down Usyk.

Now, did Usyk take this fight seriously? Who's to say, but it did seem like he was distracted, caught up in his bromance with AJ, trying to craft him into his heir apparent lineal champ once he retires. After all, his former victims picking up straps bolsters his own legacy. Add in that he showed up at a career high 233 pounds. Which clearly affected his mobility and stamina. While it might not seem like much to most fighters. When a guy like Usyk, who relies on his cat like reflexes and speed shows up weighing just a little bit more than usual, that can have a profound negative impact. Also, at the age of 39, going almost a full year out of the ring can negatively impact performance as well. However, let us not just dismissively assume, considering what a consummate professional that Usyk is, that he's going to take a fight like this lightly. It's not like he came into the fight looking like a flabby fat slob. Then there's the argument that there was no footage on Rico! Bull**** there's plenty of footage on Rico. Kickboxing is boxing with kicks added in, it's a stand up sport where only striking is allowed. It's not MMA with a bunch of guys grappling and humping one another on a mat. That's the misconception, they're very different. But what about the angle that he got old overnight? After all, he is 39, and Father Time is undefeated! Even though he looked pretty spectacular against Daniel Dubois just last year. So how much validity does that claim hold? People can say, but he looked flat footed! Where were the foot feints? Where was the body work? Why didn't he jab more? Where was the output? Where was the fleet footed footwork and dancing? See! He's old! To which I say... No! That's not a valid excuse either. Sure, maybe he was rusty, and is showing is age a little. But the reality is, Rico Verhoeven is an absolute beast of a fighter and he showed up and showed out in the grandest way imaginable.

 

There's a reason why Usyk could never get anything going, and that's because Rico nullified almost all of Usyk's strengths from the outset. I watched a ton of footage on Rico in the lead up to the fight, and while I wanted to keep my mouth shut, probably because I didn't want to admit it to myself. But I immediately zeroed in on just what a threat Rico really was, and quickly realized that not only was he more skilled than the average Heavyweight, but more skilled than most of the Top 20, including Dubois, Joshua and maybe on equal footing with Fury. Usyk thrives on pattern recognition and most HW's are incredibly basic and predictable. So he can quickly study his opponent, get their timing and rhythm down in a round or two, and because so few of them are capable of making the needed adjustments, it becomes an easy night's work for him. However, his one weakness is fighting intelligent pressure fighters and swarmers who know how to cut the ring off. Because they bring an unpredictable style to the table, which is harder to time or get the rhythm of. Which is why he struggled with Chisora more than he struggled with AJ. It's also why he struggled against the likes of Nistor and Beterbiev in the amateurs. The most success that Fury had was when he was pressing forward and throwing wild haymakers and uppercuts. But even with them, it may take Usyk a few more rounds before it clicks, but when it does. He can read them just as easily and pick them off. The secret to beating Usyk isn't to read his rhythm and get his timing down, because his control of range is impeccable as is his ability to adapt. So he'll adjust to whatever adjustment his opponents make in a round or two, and things fall into yet another pattern. But ultimately, those patterns are the problem. So what you do is, never let him get into a rhythm to start with. You have a tiny window of opportunity, but if you can immediately force him out of his comfort zone, bring constant pressure, remain consistently awkward and unpredictable. Always remaining a step ahead doing something unorthodox. That prevents Usyk from getting comfortable or from finding a rhythm of his own. So from that point on, as long as you maintain being a rhythm disruptor, you prevent him from implementing his own game plan. You beat the elite rhythm breaker, by breaking his rhythm!

What bothered me when watching Rico? I saw how awkward he was, his fluidity of motion and movement, the herky jerky upper body and head movement was solid. His tight high guard defense was sound. His unorthodox punch placement and volume, how effective he was at finding and making openings. The unpredictable varying up of the power on his shots. At times he started to remind me of the great Italian Dragon Joe Calzaghe. I saw that his jab was persistent, his feints quality, his size immense and he used it well. His inside fighting impeccable and his ability to cut off the ring was excellent. Sure, while he's more straight up and down in Glory, he's still a relentless pressure fighter with immaculate cardio and an excellent chin. That's literally everything a fighter needs to give Usyk fits! So his match with Usyk really wasn't that dissimilar from his kickboxing matches, with the exception of the hunched over stance, which served him well because it allowed him get into range easier and also Usyk has always struggled with fighters either the same height or smaller, while feasting on giants with their chins up in the air. Essentially Rico is a stylistic nightmare for Usyk, because everything he does well, impeccably exploits Usyk's weakness. Now Rico is an incredibly smart fighter on top of that so of course he's going to tailor all of his training in the lead up to be a one man Usyk beating machine. With the help of Peter Fury, and sparring all of these years with Tyson Fury, it's more than adequately prepared him for hanging with the best.

So it's simple, Usyk could never get anything on track, because Rico and the frantic pace he set, would not allow it. He didn't just break his rhythm, his disconnected it from the outset. Which made Usyk have to overthink, which paralyzed him. He didn't know where the punches were coming from, making him afraid to commit to throw jabs or feints of his own. Usyk is by his nature a conservative fighter who exploits others mistakes. Who baits opponents into making them, so he can land his counter. The forward momentum of Rico disallowed Usyk from dancing or getting on the tips of his toes. The relentless volume especially when in hold caused Usyk to shell up and go defense first, while Rico teed off. Usyk was always anticipating what was coming at him and from what angle it was coming from, keeping him constantly on the defensive, which short circuited his own offense. But ultimately, Usyk did what champions do, he found that next gear when it was crunch time, laser focused in, walked Rico into a crushing uppercut, when he was lurching forward and disconnected him from his senses. Yeah, the stoppage sucked. But Rico and Fury were trying to run out the clock and the ref isn't the time keeper! Usyk is still the guy that beat Dubois twice, Joshua twice and Fury twice. Struggling with Verhoeven changes nothing about his legacy. It simply means that Rico is an elite fighter with incredible conditioning, who has a style that gives a fighter like Usyk fits. Everyone has one. But unlike most, Usyk conquered his nightmare style by rising to the occasion. Now, before anyone says, but he's a kickboxer! Yes, and so were Vitali Klitschko, Big Baby Miller, Chris Algieri, Dillian Whyte, Nieky Holzken, Tenshin Nasukawa, Lauren Price and Alexander Povetkin. They're boxers who kick, which makes it super easy for them to make the transition. But they were run of the mill kickboxers who made the transition. While Rico Verhoeven was undefeated for a decade and literally the best of the best. Now do you comprehend? We saw two elite fighters, who were the finest exemplars from their striking based sports and not shockingly, they both rose to the occasion and gave us an absolute war! Usyk is a beast, Rico is a beast, both are elite and they showed it, now show them both the respect they deserve.

 

Thank you... I guess. Had I not gone with CST80 as a user name. I'd have gone with Pravda.