First Published: May 24 2026 | 12:12 PM IST

After watching back the controversial ending to his fight with Oleksandr Usyk, Rico Verhoeven wants some big questions answered.

Few gave the Dutchman a realistic chance heading into the fight beneath the Pyramids of Giza, given the fact that the kickboxing great had entered the bout with just one previous professional boxing appearance and was facing a pound-for-pound great in Usyk.

Instead, the 37-year-old challenger produced a performance that troubled the unified champion throughout, using relentless pressure and awkward timing to build what many viewers believed was a lead on the scorecards.

The turning point came in the eleventh round, when Usyk landed a sharp uppercut that sent Verhoeven through the ropes. Though visibly hurt, ‘The King of Kickboxing’ returned to his feet and continued fighting before referee Mark Lyson waved the contest off during a barrage on the ropes with just, according to the official result, one second remaining in the round.

Verhoeven’s camp has since questioned both the timing and nature of the stoppage, insisting the challenger should have been allowed to survive the final seconds and come out for the twelfth round.

Speaking to Boxing News, he said that an appeal is now likely.

“To be completely honest, I just saw the end, because of all the comments I was reading. They stopped the fight after the bell. So the bell went, then they stopped the fight. I think we might just go and appeal it, because this doesn’t make any sense, right? If the bell goes and then stop the fight, why? Then it’s my time to rest.”

Indeed, many videos appear to show the final call from referee Mark Lyson coming after the bell, though further clarity is required, particularly given that the clock was stopped briefly following the knockdown for Verhoeven’s mouthpiece to be reinserted.

Asked how hurt he was, the former undisputed kickboxing champion – who was up on one card and level on the other two at the time of the stoppage – said he felt good enough to carry on.

“Yeah, I got the eight-count. It was a good eight-count. It was needed. But [once I was up] I heard the [clapper], so I was like ‘f**k, we got ten seconds, keep on the move, hands up and catch the shots.’ And I feel like that’s what I was doing. That’s why, when the referee came in, I wasn’t dazzled or whatever. I was looking at the referee. Why did you stop it? We’re almost there.

“It didn’t make any sense to me, and now looking back at it, the bell went. That’s something he should be aware of. Of course, mistakes can be made, but looking back at it, the referee needs to admit his mistake. It’s either a no contest or we go to the scorecards, and if we do that, I was ahead.”

Finally, Verhoeven reflected on the fight as a whole and how it feels to have silenced a significant number of doubters.

“I had fun. I had so much fun. It was incredible to be a part of history … We had an amazing gameplan and it worked. I’m super proud, super happy with it. Of course I’m going to look back at it and think I could have done things a little better. But he had both hands full, and he’s been the undisputed champion. I didn’t see any boxer do that to him till tonight. So I’m super proud of myself, but also bittersweet.”

Though Usyk has a WBC mandatory challenger, Agit Kabayel, waiting, many are now calling for a rematch, regardless of how Verhoeven’s appeal plays out.

The NASCAR world is paying tribute to Kyle Busch this weekend, and that includes some classy ones from two series in which the late driver had a lot of success.

While Busch — who passed away Thursday after “severe pneumonia [that] progressed into sepsis” — had been a full-time driver in NASCAR’s top series, the Cup Series, for more than 20 years, he still competed occasionally in both the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the Craftsman Truck Series.

He was especially known for his dominance in the Truck Series, winning 69 of his 184 races, and at one point owned a team. In fact, the final win of Busch’s career came just under a week before his death in a Truck Series race at Dover.

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Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, is introduced before the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 1, 2026. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)

On Friday, the Truck Series was in Charlotte as part of the Coca-Cola 600 weekend for a race that Busch was supposed to take part in.

NASCAR, RACING WORLD REACTS TO KYLE BUSCH’S SHOCKING DEATH AT 41: ‘CANNOT COMPREHEND THIS NEWS’

Corey Day was in the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, the truck in which Busch took his final win, and it was set to start on pole after Friday’s qualifying was rained out.

Kyle Busch celebrates the final win of his NASCAR career at Dover Motor Speedway. (Photo by David Hahn/Icon Sportswire)

Before the race was set to begin on Friday evening, teams and fans held a moment of silence for Busch.

Unfortunately, the race never got underway and was postponed until Saturday morning and then again to Saturday night.

The O’Reilly Autoparts Series, which Busch raced in many times and won many times during his career, also took a moment to remember him before their race at Charlotte on Saturday.

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That race was also suspended due to rain.

There will be some heavy hearts on Sunday when the Coca-Cola 600, the NASCAR Cup Series’ longest race of the year, gets started at 6 p.m. ET.

Mikal Bridges has gone from zero to hero for the New York Knicks, and the first part of that adage is no figure of speech. It seems like a lifetime ago now, but Bridges literally went for zero points in New York’s Game 3 loss vs. Atlanta. It was the low point of Bridges’ New York tenure, and the Knicks looked like they were in real danger of what would’ve been a disastrous first-round upset. 

My how things have changed. 

Since that time the Knicks have 10 straight playoff games — three straight to finish the Hawks, then four more in a sweep of Philadelphia, and now they’ve gone up 3-0 on the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals after a 121-108 victory on Saturday. One more win and New York is in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

Bridges isn’t the hero of this run, but he’s one of them. And given the way this was going, and how mercilessly his name was being dragged through the mud for the five-pick price the Knicks paid to get him, it makes this a cool story on a deeper level than just basketball. 

Let’s get the numbers, which are almost hilarious. Over his last eight games, dating back to the clincher against the Hawks in which he had 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting, Bridges has averaged 19.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals on on 69/48/100 shooting splits. 

No player in history has matched those shooting numbers over an eight-game playoff stretch while averaging at least 15 PPG, and Bridges is averaging damn near 20. This has literally never been seen before. Even if you toss out all the other numbers except the field-goal percentage LeBron James is the only other player in history who has won 10 straight playoff games while making half his shots. 

And there is no sign of Bridges slowing down. On Saturday, he hung 22 points, six rebounds, three steals, two assists and a pair of blocks on the Cavs while making 11 of his 15 shots. 

It’s impossible to have watched Bridges over this stretch and not notice the dramatic shift in his approach. Look at the reel above again. Every shot is from the free-throw line down. Eight at the rim. Two mid-range pull-ups. A couple floaters. This has been an ongoing theme as Bridges has cut his 3-point attempt rate from 5.1 per game in the regular season to under three per game in the playoffs. So much for the midrange game being dead. 

It has been a long time since we have seen Bridges in this kind of attack mode. Look here in Game 2 as he flares out to catch a pass at the 3-point line, where he has daylight if he wants to launch a shot. Instead, he uses a pick from Mitchell Robinson to probe his way into the paint for a much more efficient floater. 

Again in Game 2, he catches at the top and the instant he senses Max Strus anticipating a dribble handoff he turns downhill and finishes a lofting bank shot over Evan Mobley. 

That is a confident move. The Bridges that was putting up bagels early against the Hawks just does the DHO and fades back out to the perimeter. This Bridges is different. He’s hunting scoring opportunities. Turning corners on a mission. Sprinting ahead in transition. Pull up on a dime. 

This is a guy who took just three shots in that scoreless game against Atlanta. On Saturday he fired up 15, and he hasn’t taken fewer than 10 since Game 5 of the first round. Since that time, he has made an absurd 89.7% of his shots inside the restricted area (35 for 39), 61.7% in the paint (13 of 21), and 56.3% in the midrange (9 of 16). 

“I told [Bridges] and OG [Anunoby], because I don’t call a ton of play-calls, you guys got to find different ways to impose your will on the game,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said on Saturday. “They’re both doing a phenomenal job of imposing their will on the game.”

That’s a great way to put it in the context of this Knicks team overall. Everything is flowing right now. The whole team is in an unbelievable rhythm, and when that’s happening, you don’t have to call a lot of plays. The ball just moves, guys attack, draw help, kick, swing, nobody is standing still, and Bridges is in the thick of it all. Look at his impact before and after that Game 6 breakout against the Hawks — from a minus-11 player to a plus-144. 

Oh by the way, he’s playing incredible defense, too. 

This is while being matched up against the likes of Tyrese Maxey, James Harden and Jalen Johnson. None of these guys have fared well against Bridges, who was an elite defender in Phoenix but has, or had, declined on that end as he became more offensive-minded. This looks like the best of both Bridges, the two-way guy who was deemed important enough to this multi-year Knicks championship push that they traded those five picks for him. That trade has been clowned as maybe the biggest overpay in recent history. Right now, it’s looking like they might have actually gotten a bargain.