Oleksandr Usyk retains heavyweight title with controversial 11th-round call

Oleksandr Usyk claimed victory by a hair's breadth in a controversial eleventh round call against Rico Verhoeven in Egypt.

The pair faced off in the shadow of the pyramids in Giza, with relative novice Verhoeven appearing dominant in the earlier rounds of the fight.

It was only Verhoeven's second ever professional boxing match, and he took the lead for extended sections of the match.

However, things took a turn for Usyk after he rallied later in the fight, knocking Verhoeven down with a left uppercut.

Verhoeven was back on his feet before the count was, but was then met with a further barrage of blows from Ukrainian Usyk, with the referee then stepping in towards the end of the round. In the end, the match was called in favour of Usyk, but came down to an extremely close call.

Speaking after the match, Usyk opened up about how much of a challenge it had been, saying: "This fight was hard. It was a good fight."

Verhoeven, who is already an experienced kickboxer, even questioned the decision of the match, calling it an 'early stoppage'.

He went on to challenge Usyk to a rematch, though he insisted that it would be up to Usyk.

In a post to his Instagram page after the fight, Verhoeven appeared to challenge Usyk, posting pictures of the score cards with the caption: "Leave emotions out of it. Read the cards.

"One second left heading into the 12th and final round. Onwards and upwards!

"Respect to @usykaa, it was an honor to share the ring with you. Let’s run it back!"

When the fight came to a stop with one second to go in the eleventh round, the score cards were 95-95, 95,95, and 96-94 to Verhoeven.

Verhoeven said: "I wanted the referee to let me go out on my shield or let me go in the 12th. I felt we were pretty even on the scorecards."

During the fight, Verhoeven's trainer Peter Fury could heard telling him: "Get back to your boxing, you're getting too greedy, trying to land and getting caught."

The match had been anticipated as demonstrating the big gap between crossover fighters and high level boxing, with Usyk winning his 25th professional match.

However, Usyk was met with a tighter contest than anticipated, though he managed to push through and retain his titles.

Verhoeven has dominated kickboxing for over 10 years, but this was only his second foray into professional boxing.

He went into the ring accompanied by people wearing Ancient Egyptian pharaoh costumes, while Usyk sported a gladiator-style outfit including a golden helmet.

There was some big names in boxing in attendance at the fight as well, such as Gennady Golovkin, Terence Crawford, Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, and Anthony Joshua.

Hollywood action celebrity Jason Statham, who helped to organise the fight, was also spotted in attendance.