After witnessing Usyk’s surprisingly shaky performance Saturday night against kickboxer Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the head of K2 Promotions called for him to hang up the gloves.

“If I were there to advise him, his next opponent would be his family matters, maybe his business issues,” Krassyuk told Boxing King Media. “That’s what he has to take care of now. He has to stop. It’s better to leave one hour before than two minutes after. Unfortunately, this is the truth. It concerns not just boxing; it concerns every single thing in life.

“This is a very difficult decision for a man like Usyk, being at the top and being unbeaten. But think of the future. So, from the bottom of my heart, I wish him to retire at his prime and be remembered in ages as one of the most prominent and greatest fighters of all time.”

Ukraine’s Usyk (25-0, 16 KOs), The Ring, IBF, WBA and WBC heavyweight champion, will turn 40 in January. The former undisputed cruiserweight champ said heading into the Verhoeven fight that he had two more ring walks left in him after Saturday.

Krassyuk said Usyk survived the toughest fight of his career and only had him winning three rounds entering the 11th. One judge had Verhoeven winning, 96-94, and two had their fight even, 95-95 apiece, before Usyk dropped him and scored a dramatic and controversial stoppage with a second left in the penultimate round.

Usyk entered what was considered a mismatch as a 25-1 favorite over a kickboxing legend who had participated in only one professional boxing match.

“Usyk did not look fresh,” Krassyuk said. “He was at the highest weight [233 pounds] that I ever saw him, but did you see the trend from the previous fight with Dubois and this fight with Rico? The amount of steps he made in the ring significantly declined. He’s not taking the best advantage of his footwork in the ring. But he’s more concentrated on a harder punch, when his feet are loaded into the ground to get more power in the fist.

“Before this fight, people asked me for the prediction. I told them 100 fights out of 100, Usyk wins. But there is also a place for a miracle, the Lord’s will. Thank God this time the miracle did not take place. But the signal has to be detected, and once the signal is detected, the conclusions have to be made. After conclusions are made, the adjustments and improvements have to be done. Otherwise, the tendency, the vector it’s taking, is not a good sign for my brother Oleksandr.”

Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan