End the drama, Usyk won and will continue to dominate.

It was literally stopped after the bell thoughbeit. Mouth guard shenanigans aside he absolutely deserved to see the 12th.

 

Maybe give him a point deduction for spitting out the mouthguard; don't just end the fight, especially when Rico, by unbiased observation, was at least four rounds up after the knockdown.

 

Don't get the fuss knew it would be awkward but he came through

 

Except he didn't & that debutant is the Glory champion.. a lot of HWs would have struggled.. cry more, Usyk is the top dog in boxing.

 

Itauma has so much faster feet it's not even funny. Kaybel is also the worst style for Uysk. Both of them should kill Uysk under normal circumstances.

 

I am 100% sure of only one thing - the drama is not over

 

He beat a novice. This does nothing for his resume, much like Patterson's win over Rademacher, who actually had more boxing experience than Verhoeven.

At least Patterson knocked Rademacher down six times and stopped him in the sixth round. Yes, Patterson got knocked down himself, but that was common throughout his career. Even so, it was a far better performance than what Usyk just produced. Also, Patterson had fought Tommy Jackson a month before fighting Rademacher. Usyk had 10 months to prepare and still had a trash performance, hahah.

 

Of course he is a top dog, which is exactly why this fight should have been either a complete schooling or a one-sided beatdown of Rico. The way it played out is a bad look for boxing.

 

"Continue to dominate" implied he did so here, and he didn't.

Age has clearly caught up to Usyk, and there's no shame in that, but don't try putting lipstick on a pig when it's still in the barn.

 

A kickboxer that hadn't lost a fight in a decade. Same thing happened to Fury though worse, to be sure.

Regarding Usyk not being the GOAT (this is not the first time i've said that, btw): The guys Ali fought were far more accomplished, better and more experienced boxers. He fought more better guys over a much longer period of time. 10 of those fights were scheduled for 15rds. It took Larry Holmes at the very end of Ali's career to get a stoppage. The Verhoeven fight became part of my argument.

 

Usyk's days are numbered, regardless of what you think about Saturday's fight, which I haven't watched. He's not going to get any younger, or faster. Time is not on his side.

 

1. Ref began to step in before the bell
2. Ref can stop the fight any time he has seen the fighter has had enough
3. Rico would have had to have made it to his corner on his own power to get to the 12th. Even if ref had not stopped it because of the barrage, he might have been obligated to stop it if Rico was stumbling.

 

A champion disrespected his peers by giving a title shot to a 1-0 kickboxer. He then lost a bunch of rounds. Usyk created the drama by being a bad and disrespectful champion. The drama is warranted.

 

Usyk did what he had to do and found the opening to force the stoppage in a tough outing against a tricky opponent, I think the stoppage was at a bad time and we needed to see the 12th that’s the extent of any drama for me.