Rico Verhoeven challenged Oleksandr Usyk for the WBC heavyweight title in Giza, Egypt, with Verhoeven landing more significant strikes for much of the fight. Usyk dropped Verhoeven late in the 11th round, and Verhoeven rose as Usyk followed with unanswered shots. Mark Lyson stepped in and stopped the contest with one second left in the 11th round. Rumors claimed the stoppage occurred after the bell, and viewers reportedly had no fight clock during the live broadcast. Verhoeven’s coach Peter Fury said Lyson was on the same flight back and allegedly admitted he did not hear the bell, leading to a handshake between them.
""The referee was on the flight with me on the way back," Fury told iFL TV. "... I said, 'You made a mistake.' And he said to me, which was very important, he said, 'Peter, I didn't hear the bell.' I said, 'Well, that I believe [that] because I didn't hear the bell either. I thought it was two seconds before... I've gotta give the fellow the credit. I don't wanna slate anybody. I told him I believe he made a mistake. We shook hands.""
"Lyson abruptly stepped in and called a stop to the contest with officially a second left in the 11th round. If the official stoppage wasn't already controversial enough, some rumors suggest that Lyson stopped the bout after the bell went off. The make matters worse, there was no fight clock for viewers on the live broadcast."
"Verhoeven appeared to be on the way to a monumental upset win when Usyk dropped him late in the 11th round. While Verhoeven returned to his feet, Usyk backed him up with a barrage of unanswered shots. Lyson abruptly stepped in and called a stop to the contest with officially a second left in the 11th round."
Read at Sherdog
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