Agit Kabayel, who will likely be Usyk’s next opponent, was ringside as a shot at the 39-year-old unified heavyweight champion nearly slipped from his grasp. Kabayel believes Usyk’s performance was a product of his age and the difficulty preparing for Verhoeven, who was boxing for just the second time. 

Verhoeven was 66-10 with 21 KOs as a kickboxer and reigned as the Glory Kickboxing heavyweight champion from 2013 to 2025.

“I think he is old,” Kabayel said on "Inside The Ring" Monday. “He's 39 years old, but I think Rico had a very unorthodox style. This was hard for Usyk. You can’t watch the fights from Rico. He didn’t understand what the plan was from Rico. 

“I think this is why the situation was different for Usyk. When he fights with other guys, he has so many fights he can watch and he can make a game plan for the fights. I think that was a problem for Usyk.”

Heading into the 11th round, Verhoeven led 96-94 on judge Pasquale Procopio’s scorecard, while judges Manuel Oliver Palomo and Fabian Guggenheim both had it 95-95. With 25 seconds left in the round, Usyk dropped Verhoeven with a right uppercut. 

Verhoeven, who was fighting in just his second professional boxing match, rose on unsteady legs. After having his mouthpiece put back in by his corner, he was swarmed by Usyk and as the bell was about to ring to end the round, referee Mark Lyson stopped the fight. 

After the fight, Usyk (25-0, 16 KOs), The Ring’s No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter, and Kabayel (27-0, 19 KOs), The Ring’s No. 2-ranked heavyweight, came face to face and expressed their willingness to fight each other next. 

Kabayel last fought on January 10, stopping Damian Knyba in the third round in Germany. The 33-year-old from Leverkusen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, has won his last six fights by stoppage, including a sixth-round knockout of Zhilei Zhang and a seventh-round knockout of Frank Sanchez, who is The Ring’s No. 7-ranked heavyweight.

Kabayel hopes a potential fight against the Ukrainian southpaw can land in his home country. Former heavyweight champions Wladimir Klitschko and Vitali Klitschko, who are also from Ukraine, like Usyk, fought the majority of their careers in Germany. 

“I think the best place [is to] fight in Düsseldorf in the stadium,” Kabayel said. “I think we have a place for 70,000 people. We have a lot of Ukrainian people here. We also have a very big Kurdish community here — we support a lot, but also the German people support me. I think you will never hear this atmosphere in the arena when you come. 

“In Germany, my last fight, we sold out the arena in four or five days. All the people from the UK, people working in boxing for 20 or 30 years, said to us, 'We’ve never seen an atmosphere like this.’ When the fight's in Germany with Usyk, you come to Germany, you will see this, and I promise you, you will not forget this in your life.”