The Pyramids of Giza loomed over a purpose-built open-air arena for one of boxing’s most unusual world title fights in recent memory.
A kickboxing heavyweight legend who ruled his sport for more than 4,000 days, Verhoeven sprinted to the ring at around 01:10 local time, flanked by performers dressed as Egyptian pharaohs, before Usyk emerged in a gladiator-style outfit complete with a golden helmet.
Verhoeven, who insisted his unpredictability could trouble Usyk, made a lively start with constant movement and energy, landing a solid right hand to the body.
Usyk responded with a sharp double uppercut in the second, but Verhoeven absorbed it well and fired back with two right hands of his own.
Boxing royalty including Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, Terence Crawford, Gennady Golovkin and Anthony Joshua watched on from ringside, alongside Hollywood star Jason Statham – the man credited with helping to bring the fight together.
Another right hand from Verhoeven landed flush on Usyk in the third round, and by that stage the biggest shock in boxing history no longer felt impossible.
Usyk – so often the sport’s master of patience – was forced to dig deep. He briefly responded in the fourth, hurting Verhoeven with a straight right and stinging left. Verhoeven recovered well, but momentum felt like it might be turning.
“Get back to your boxing, you’re getting too greedy, trying to land and getting caught,” Verhoeven’s trainer Peter Fury warned him.
Verhoeven entered the sixth round for the first time in his fighting career – kickboxing bouts are capped at five rounds, and his only previous professional boxing fight ended inside two.
He stuck to the instruction and continued to pick up rounds with cleaner, more eye-catching work as Usyk looked increasingly unsettled.
A lethargic Usyk was rocked again in the eighth by a right from Verhoeven, but the champion came alive in the 10th and 11th, unleashing a flurry of punches and repeatedly finding the uppercut – the shot that had given him his most success all night.
Verhoeven spat out his gumshield while Usyk immediately protested at the added time his opponent was given to recover.
Usyk surged again and sensed the finish. Verhoeven was visibly hurt and a stoppage may have come in the very next round had the fight continued.
He should arguably have been allowed the chance to see it through.
Instead, the referee stepped in and waved off what will go down as a contentious stoppage.