Canelo Alvarez claims referee saved Rico Verhoeven from brutal knockout in Oleksandr Usyk clash

Despite the widespread uproar to the stoppage in Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven, Canelo Alvarez believes it was the right call.

This past Saturday, one of the biggest boxing fights in recent history took place when Oleksandr Usyk looked to defend his Ring Magazine and WBC World Heavyweight titles against Rico Verhoeven in front of the Pyramids in Giza.

Despite not being given much of a chance in what was just his second professional boxing fight, the former kickboxing king shocked the world with his performance.

Heading into round 11, the Dutchman was up one round on one of the judges’ scorecards, with the other two judges having it level, but that didn’t matter as Usyk scored a controversial stoppage in the final second.

Canelo Alvarez claims the referee ‘saved’ Verhoeven from brutal knockout

The 37-year-old looked like he was on the way to one of the biggest shock wins in the sport’s history, as he continued to hold his own throughout the latter stages of the fight.

The stoppage went on to cause utter uproar, as the referee jumped in and called the fight off following the sounding of the end of the round, despite several of Usyk’s shots having landed after the bell.

Verhoeven’s team immediately protested the stoppage, and not long after the fight, the Dutchman revealed that he will be officially appealing the loss.

Despite the widespread uproar, though, Canelo Alvarez has defended the referee’s stoppage, being one of the only ones to go against the grain.

“It was a good fight, I didn’t expect that from Rico, but it was a good fight,” Canelo told Seconds Out Boxing when leaving the make-shift arena.

“It’s tough to say (how it was scored). I don’t think (it was an early stoppage), I think they saved Rico from a knockout,” he continued.