A win for Verhoeven would have arguably surpassed James ‘Buster’ Douglas’ shock victory over Mike Tyson in 1990 as the greatest upset in boxing history.
Both corners were given the scores under the open scoring system after round eight, with the contest level. Verhoeven – who felt he should be ahead on the cards – says it took a significant mental toll as the fight moved into the championship rounds.
Coached by Peter Fury for more than a decade, Verhoeven is no stranger to elite-level sparring and preparation.
Fury has since said he was on the same flight back as referee Mark Lyson and that the official told him he did not hear the bell to signal the end of the 11th round.
Verhoeven himself says he did not hear the bell either, only the clapper around 10 seconds before the end of the round.
“I knew Usyk was going to push it and I knew we were already there, so I just got on the defence and tried to ride it out. And then the referee jumps in.
“He did not just take it from me, he took it from Usyk. If he had the chance to knock me out in the 12th round, he would have done it to settle the fight without debate.
“Pretty strange because in other championship fights I’ve been dropped multiple times earlier and still come back to win. I know that’s one of my superpowers. I can get hit, recover, and come back.
“There are so many opinions and things to say – like ‘what if in the 12th round he would have definitely knocked you out?’
“But no, we cannot look into the future. We cannot predict anything. If we listened to all the predictions I wouldn’t have gone past the first half of the fight, and I did.”