Oleksandr Usyk needed 32 minutes and 58 seconds to secure the 25th victory of his professional career, but it was far from an easy night for the heavyweight champion.
Usyk struggled for long stretches against kickboxer Rico Verhoeven on Saturday in Giza, Egypt, as the massive underdog pushed the undefeated Usyk far more than expected. Usyk appeared uncomfortable at times dealing with Verhoeven’s size, physicality and unorthodox style, raising questions about whether the performance was a sign of age beginning to catch up with the champion or simply the challenge of facing a nontraditional opponent.
On the undercard, Hamzah Sheeraz captured the vacant WBO super middleweight title and once again called out former champion Canelo Alvarez immediately afterward. However, with Alvarez facing Christian Mbilli on Sept. 12, his attention now turns to what realistic options he could have as he begins his reign at 168 pounds.
Meanwhile, Jack Catterall finally captured a world title, claiming a secondary WBA welterweight belt in his debut at 147 pounds. Regardless of the belt’s status, Catterall looked like a legitimate threat in the division with his sharp boxing and composure. And with full WBA champion Rolando “Rolly” Romero saying he’s retired, other intriguing opportunities might be available for the newly crowned titleholder.
Andreas Hale, Nick Parkinson and James Regan break down the performances and look ahead to what might come next for the three winners.
What happened to Usyk?
Usyk entered the ring against Verhoeven as the undefeated three-time undisputed champion and ESPN’s No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer. He had done everything that anyone could have asked in his pro boxing career by dominating the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. But rather than ride off into the sunset on top, Usyk opted to do “what I want to do” by fighting Verhoeven against the backdrop of the pyramids in Giza, Egypt, on Saturday.
That decision nearly ended in disaster as Verhoeven, who carried a 2-inch size advantage, gave Usyk all he could handle until a key Round 11 saw the champion escape with a controversial stoppage.
Verhoeven gave Usyk problems all night, leveraging his size and unorthodox movement to not allow Usyk, the calculated ring tactician, to get into his rhythm as he has for his entire career. Although the judges had the fight close entering Round 11, those watching saw a massive underdog come close to pulling off arguably the biggest boxing upset since Buster Douglas defeated Mike Tyson in 1990. It took Usyk summoning his incomprehensible will — and a perfectly landed uppercut — to put Verhoeven down before ransacking him with power punches to earn a knockout with one second left in the round, a stoppage that will be debated for a long while.
But what’s done is done, and Usyk is still undefeated. Everyone has a bad night, but was this due to his opponent or was it a sign that age is finally catching up to Usyk?
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Usyk’s place in the pound-for-pound conversation will almost certainly be up for debate now that a kickboxer, who had only one pro boxing match back in 2014, pushed him to the limit.
At 39, Usyk has been extraordinary during his recent run at heavyweight, toppling the best fighters the division had to offer in Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois and demonstrating the innate ability to adjust and find a way to win. He did the same against Verhoeven but was completely out of sorts for two-thirds of the fight. It could easily be that Father Time is ringing the doorbell as Usyk looked relatively flat-footed and sluggish for much of the fight. He lacked the movement, reflexes and speed that had become a trademark of his superb career. The fact that he struggled this much with a kickboxer is telling.
But there’s also another matter that perhaps many aren’t considering: Verhoeven.
Usyk has spent his entire career playing chess by figuring out his opponents and then staying two or three moves ahead. He’s used to fighting boxers, but Verhoeven (6-foot-5, 259 pounds), who was big, strong and unorthodox, presented a unique puzzle, and his success against Usyk might have had more to do with his technique than Usyk’s age.
Verhoeven’s constant feints and movement troubled Usyk. They were unlike anything Usyk has had to deal with as a heavyweight. Usyk took hard punches from Verhoeven but never appeared to be in danger of being knocked out. He was careful and set traps for the uppercut in the first half of the fight but realized that Verhoeven wasn’t going to fall for it as easily as he thought.
But the one thing that separates Usyk from other fighters finally showed up in Round 11: his will to win. Rather than wait for Verhoeven to fall into his trap, Usyk went on the assault and eventually landed the uppercut he had been seeking by simply willing it to happen. The knockdown likely would have resulted in Usyk winning the fight, as two judges had the fight even and a third had Verhoeven up by a round. The 10-8 round would have pushed Usyk ahead on the scorecards with Round 12 remaining. But what everyone will remember is the controversial ending of the fight, which saw Usyk clobber Verhoeven as the seconds ticked off the clock until referee Mark Lyson waved off the fight.
The reality is that Usyk would have probably finished a badly damaged and fatigued Verhoeven in the final round. But he didn’t get the opportunity, and we didn’t get to see it play out that way. But the conclusion will leave more questions than answers regarding Usyk’s future.
Whether it was Usyk’s age or Verhoeven simply being better than expected will be debated, but Usyk will live to fight another day, and those questions will be answered in his next fight. — Andreas Hale
Sheeraz wants Canelo but likely will have to wait
Hamzah Sheeraz, left, won the vacant WBO super middleweight title by stopping Alem Begic in Round 2. Picture by Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Seconds after Hamzah Sheeraz won the vacant WBO super middleweight title on Saturday, he was calling on Canelo Alvarez to fight him.
Sheeraz also called out Alvarez following his knockout victory over Edgar Berlanga in July 2025, but earlier Saturday, Alvarez confirmed his next opponent — and Sheeraz was not the choice.
Alvarez, the former undisputed super middleweight champion who last week was named the second-highest-paid athlete in the world for 2026 by Forbes, will challenge WBC champion Christian Mbilli in Saudi Arabia on Sept. 12.
However, the focus for Sheeraz’s team remains Alvarez, even if he will probably have to wait until May 2027 to face the Mexican superstar. That would mean taking a fight in the interim for Sheeraz, who outclassed and overwhelmed Alem Begic inside two rounds and sealed the victory with a left to the body.
Rather than a unification fight against WBA champion Jaime Munguia, Sheeraz is likely to take an easier fight against a top WBO contender such as Jacob Bank of Denmark.
“Now we go and speak to Turki Alalshikh [the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority], [promoters] Frank Warren, George Warren,” said Spencer Brown, Sheeraz’s manager and adviser, after the fight. “I would like to see [Sheeraz] back in England for one big fight, then we march on to the face of boxing, Canelo. That’s the fight we want. You’ve seen how destructive he is.”
Begic was Sheeraz’s 17th stoppage opponent since 2018, and in that time only Carlos Adames was able to take him the distance in a draw for the WBC middleweight title in February 2025.
Alvarez was ringside to watch the danger Sheeraz poses in his quest to dominate the super middleweight division again. But an Alvarez-Sheeraz fight could be the best bout to make in the 168-pound division. — Nick Parkinson
Catterall deserves a chance to fight for the full WBA title
Jack Catterall, right, defeated Shakhram Giyasov to win the WBA “regular” welterweight title. Picture by Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Jack Catterall can no longer be denied. His third fight at welterweight was arguably the best performance of his career as he controlled and dominated Shakhram Giyasov to earn the secondary WBA “regular” title.
Catterall sent Giyasov to the canvas in Round 1 to set the tone as Catterall coasted to a remarkable unanimous decision victory against his previously unbeaten opponent. Catterall is in line to fight WBA “super” champion Rolando “Rolly” Romero, a bout that the WBA says must happen next. What Romero, who hasn’t fought in over a year since winning the title, chooses to do next remains a mystery. He has been frustrated with the inactivity and claimed on Thursday in a YouTube interview that he’s “retired” after not fighting for a year.
If that happens and Catterall is elevated to full champion without fighting, it won’t be anything less than what he deserves. Saturday’s performance was worthy of world honors, and he has waited a long time for his moment, twice coming back from defeats to climb the mountain again. First, after a controversial decision against Josh Taylor in 2022 in a fight that many thought Catterall won, he then lost a close contest to Arnold Barboza Jr. in a title eliminator in 2025 before choosing to move up to welterweight.
Catterall deserves the big fights under the bright lights and is now a serious name in the 147-pound division. His technical ability is without question, and he has the power at welterweight to cause anyone issues. — James Regan
