World heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, who holds three of the four major belts, dropped a bombshell on social media today when he said, "I am vacating my unified WBA, IBF and WBC heavyweight world titles ahead of stepping into the ring for my final fight." Usyk made the announcement as the WBC was moving to enforce Usyk's mandatory title defense obligation against undefeated WBC interim title holder Agit Kabayel. Although no announcement has been made, the obvious final fight for Usyk seems to be a rematch against kickboxer Rico Verhoeven.

 

Last month, Usyk had a very difficult time with Verhoeven, and wound up retaining his world heavyweight championship with the help of a poor stoppage by the referee. Verhoeven was seemingly on the verge of an upset of historic proportion when Usyk landed an uppercut with about ten seconds left in round eleven. Before the round could resume, Verhoeven got a little extra rest as his fallen mouthpiece was cleaned. Usyk landed a couple of more punches, and while Verhoeven appeared shaken, there did not seem to be any basis to stop the fight before the round ended. Still, referee Mark Lyson declared it to be a technical knockout at an announced time of 2:59 in round eleven. From the replay, it seems that the bell sounded to end round eleven a second BEFORE the referee ended it. Verhoeven was gracious in defeat, but he had every right to be given the chance to come out for round twelve and see if he could have held on for a decision win. Most observers had Verhoeven ahead on the cards, including Boxingtalk, who had it 97-93 for Verhoeven after ten. According to photos posted on social media, the official scores after ten rounds were 95-95 (twice) and 96-94 Verhoeven.