Author: Sean Crose

When I was a teenage man growing up in Waterbury, Connecticut, in the 1970s and 1980s, sports were king. It seemed like every kid in the neighborhood played on the basketball or baseball team. Fathers, perhaps disappointed that their dreams had not come true, could actually be harsh with their sons and daughters. As a teenage man in Waterbury, I played sports too, but what I loved…what I really loved…was boxing. The problem, of course, was that my mother wouldn’t let me box at the local boys club. If I wanted to box, I had to watch it on TV.

Which I did constantly every chance I got. I really wanted to see boxing live, but as a child my father wasn’t too keen on me being part of the very adult boxing audience. There was no live boxing in Waterbury either. It just wasn’t there. You would think so. Waterbury was a tough town, but unfortunately there was no way to watch professional fights live and in person. Willie Pep once had about 20,000 people in Waterbury Municipal Stadium, but that was long before I was born. There were a lot of boxing fans in Waterbury, but not a lot of boxing fans.

Fortunately, everything will change soon, because on June 6, professional boxing will finally return to Waterbury, and Mike “The Savage” Kimbel will be the main character of the gala at the legendary Palace Theater. To make things even more compelling, Kimbel is from Waterbury himself, so he’ll be performing for a hometown crowd. Of course, the youngster has a lot to lose, but the local player is confident.

“The intensity is still high,” he tells me when I ask how he’s doing as training comes to an end. Originally, one of the opponents was supposed to face Kimbel, but it didn’t work out that way. “He became just like a ghost,” Kimbel says. Fortunately, a up-to-date opponent will step in, which will be good for the teenage athlete hoping to impress his hometown fans.

“I feel amazing,” Kimbel says of the Waterbury fight. He also admitted that the June 6 card was associated with “a bit of the word ‘I told you so’.” Like many teenage children growing up in hard cities and towns, Kimbel had hard times. Suffice it to say, his mother was not joyful with the direction her son’s life was heading.

“My mom was fed up with it,” Kimbel says. Determined to keep her son straight and narrow, Kimbel’s mother took him to the gym. “It kept me out of trouble,” he says. And then some. Kimbel first made a name for himself in mixed martial arts, becoming a Bellator fighter. Eventually, however, he found himself in the squared circle he had always dreamed of.

“It was supposed to be overtime,” he says of his real-life experience in the ring. Needless to say, he fell in love with the sport. “I have always been a huge boxing fan,” he says. Indeed, Kimbel believes that his time in mixed martial arts has done him good. “It carried over,” he tells me. It certainly seems to be the case. Kimbel’s movements in the ring are characterized by natural fluidity. He has an excellent jab that allows him to unleash a powerful law.

However, Kimbel makes it clear that his boxing endeavors are about more than just glory. “I started it for my son,” he says. He also spends time with younger players through the Police Athletic League. “You can see the change in their eyes,” he says of how children, like he once did, began to become familiar with the sport.

While his upcoming performance in Waterbury is satisfying in its own right, Kimbel still feels he still has a lot of growing to do as a professional boxer. “History is still being written,” he says.

Rico Verhoeven doesn’t need a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk because boxing has already taken away from him what he really deserved in Egypt.

Not heavyweight titles. Not a victory. Not even official recognition on the scorecards.

Verhoeven earned the right to hear the bell ring at the Pyramids after pushing the unified heavyweight champion much harder than almost anyone expected.

That moment was taken from him with a second left.

Usyk clearly didn’t prepare to the best of his ability and looked musclebound as he struggled through long stretches of the competition. However, turning him on for the last few rounds and hoping he had enough left in the tank to stop the tiring Verhoeven was certainly not part of the game plan.

The Ukrainian looked genuinely shocked at how Verhoeven was able to maneuver around the ring in such an unconventional way that he repeatedly prevented Usyk from gaining any rhythm.

As detailed in WBN’s live coverage from Giza, Verhoeven frustrated Usyk from the first round and never allowed the champion to fully take control.

Even when Usyk finally succeeded in the underbelly and started hurting Verhoeven towards the end, the Dutchman still survived, recovered and made the fight awkward enough to keep the fight hanging in the balance.

Verhoeven was seriously injured at the end of the eleventh set, but giving him that one minute to recover was the least he could pay for his fortitude and determination.

Mark Lyson’s decision

Therefore, referee Mark Lyson’s decision will remain a long-debated topic of the event.

Lyson is usually one of the better referees in boxing and is rarely controversial. This time, however, he must seriously consider the decision to stop the fight.

The official time of the eleventh round is 2:59. In fact, I thought it was at least 3:01 because the bell had already rung before Lyson had fully entered the action.

Verhoeven got back to his feet. He was prepared to continue and was a second away from hearing the bell ending the final round.

He fully deserved this opportunity.

Instead, the ending immediately reopened familiar accusations that boxing protects its own when outside forces threaten the established order.

As detailed in WBN’s post-fight report, the controversy only intensified as Verhoeven appeared to be ahead on multiple unofficial cards entering the championship rounds.

WBN had Rico Verhoeven leading 97-93 after ten rounds and 105-103 after eleven, even including the knockdown.

However, both the live WBC scorecards read in the arena and the WBA scorecards revealed after the fight in which Verhoeven did not win.

That says a lot.

There is no need for a rematch with Usyk

As for the rematch, there’s really no point.

Usyk would almost certainly have prepared better for the second fight and would likely have stopped Verhoeven in the first half of the fight once he was fully accustomed to the movement and rhythm that surprised him in Egypt.

That intrigue is now over and Usyk has his mandatory duties behind him.

Boxing had a chance to adapt to another combat sports star who went far beyond his comfort zone and exceeded almost all expectations placed on him.

Instead, the sport turned what should have been a remarkable crossover success into another evening dominated by controversy, debates over results and accusations of protectionism surrounding one of boxing’s biggest stars.

Verhoeven may never officially receive the recognition many believe he deserves. But he also doesn’t need a rematch to confirm what happened.

For ten rounds under the pyramids, Rico Verhoeven proved that he was there. This should be enough.

About the author

Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.

“I just saw the ending because of all the comments I was reading, and they stopped the fight after the bell,” Verhoeven told Boxing News.

“So the bell rang and then they stopped the fight. So yeah, I guess we can just go and file an appeal because it doesn’t make any sense, right? If the bell rang and then they stopped the fight, then why, you know, then it’s my time to rest.”

Verhoeven later explained why he believed the fight should have continued, saying he was aware of what happened after the knockdown and believed he was defending himself properly.

“I did the math. It was a good math. Yes, it was necessary. But I felt like I heard a click. So I thought, ‘OK, let’s go.’ We have about 10 seconds,” Verhoeven said.

“So let’s keep moving. Hands up and catching the shots. I feel like that’s what I was doing. So right away when the ref came in, I wasn’t stunned or anything. I was looking at the ref like, ‘Why are you stopping? We’re almost there.’

Verhoeven also mentioned the possibility of the fight being declared a no-contest or having it recorded on the scorecards rather than ending in a defeat at half-time.

“Looking back, even the bell rang. He should have been aware of that. Of course, mistakes can happen, but looking back, the referee should have admitted his mistake and said, ‘Hey, so either there’s no contest or we’ll go to the scorecards,'” Rico said.

“And I think if we go to the scorecards, I had the advantage.”

Despite the controversial ending, Verhoeven said the performance convinced him to pursue a boxing career after pushing Usyk harder than many expected.

“He had both hands occupied. He is the undisputed champion and until tonight I had never seen any boxer do that to him,” Verhoeven said.

“I found my up-to-date passion in combat sports. I hope I surprised and shocked the boxing world because I’m here to stay.”

A successful appeal could cause an undesirable delay for Usyk, who has already been linked to several huge heavyweight fights. Verhoeven’s performance and reaction after the break could also give the rematch more commercial value than many expected before Saturday night.