More controversial: Usyk vs Dubois 1 “low blow” or Usyk vs Verhoeven “stoppage”?

Why doesn't the OP mention the referee in Fury-Usyk 1? That should have been a stoppage win for Usyk. What about the scorecard for Joshua in the second Joshua-Usyk fight?

Usyk has never had home advantage in any of his big wins.

There was nothing about the low blow in the first Dubois fight that should have been controversial. Old Fish Eyes went on and on about it because he's a dishonest promoter. The only reason anyone else would bring it up is to discredit the great road warrior Usyk.

 

The controversy of Rico getting the extra 20 seconds.

 

The stoppage as it occurred after the bell.

There was nothing remotely controversial about the "low blow". It's on tape, and the ref made the right call.

 

Usyk did win by knockout.

 

Dubois punch was low. Definitely got bailed against Rico though

 

You could look at it like Dubois got several rounds to compete in the fight after that decision and got knocked out. The shot was at minimum right in the danger zone and Usyk got the time stated within the rules to recover and resume fighting. Verhoeven was legitimately hurt by a wonderful uppercut but had his wits about him, he even spat the guard out to ensure he gave himself every chance to see round 12. Ref decided we don’t need to see it and stopped it, it’s a question of how hurt he was and if that was the right time to step in. So we have a low blow which would some think was a legal shot and some think was an illegal shot. We have a stoppage which some think was fair some think was unfair.

 

These.

 

It would really depend with what followed.

If Rico should
(A) Stop Usyk in the 12th - the extra time would be nothing more than a footnote
(B) Win on points - the extra time again would be a footnote

The outrageous story of (A) and (B) would be Rico the kickboxer beating Usyk, lets be honest here.

Now if option
(C) Usyk goes on to knock out Rico in the 12th in a fight was he's about to lose on the cards...yeah that would definitely be a big talking point...but I think people would have to accept a KO in the 12th

But we got (D) a fight in the balance being stopped after the bell

None of the above are as controversial as (D)

 

I disagree it looked fine to me but it is what it is

 

Both the low blow and the stoppage were 50/50 calls. The key difference is that Usyk was going to win the Verhoeven fight. He would have been up by two points on two of the judges cards going into round 12 and it is unlikely Verhoeven was going to put Usyk on his butt in the 12th. So even if Rico smehow won the 12th found he would have lost the fight.

The dilemma with the low blow call is that we do not know if Usyk would have gotten up if there had been a count. We do know he stayed down because he did not have to get up but that proves nothing. Oleksandr was definitely in pain and may not have gotten up if there had been a count or he may have gotten up and been knocked out by Dubois. Of course he also could have gotten up and went on to win the fight as easily as he did.

The key is that Verhoeven was not winning his fight while Dubois may have won his so, if either one is controversial, I would say it was the Dubois fight.

By the way, my personal opinion is that it the Dubois punch was not a low blow and that the Verhoeven fight should have been allowed to continue.

 

I think you're categorically wrong on this point, but what I'd like to know is how you feel about all the other low blows Dubois was landing. There are YT videos showing each time Diglett hit Usyk low and it was around twenty times. The ref even has to warn him multiple times to stop straying low with his shots. Did you have any problems with those shots? Seems like if you acknowledge Dubois had promised before the fight to win by any means necessary, was going low repeatedly during the fight, and was having zero success outside of low-blowing, that that might sway you to believe the shot in the 5th was illegal. Do you think he should have been docked points or DQ'ed?

 

I thought Dubious hit his belly button which to me is a legal punch and a very nice one like Khan Judah. Usyk got out of position to let that land. Not here to debate it though, we agree to disagree otherwise.

 

Both are only controversial to people who hate Usyk. The Dubois punch was low and the Rico stoppage was borderline, but people forget the ref gave Rico 30 full seconds to recover (with assist from the corner "dropping" the mouth piece" and he still was getting hammered and not throwing back.

The timing of the stoppage might rile some, but the ref told Peter Fury he didn't hear the bell...and for you scoring at home, the bell can't save a fighter anyway unless it's the final round.