SportBoxingOleksandr Usyk10:23, 26 May 2026The referee who stopped Oleksandr Usyk's fight with Rico Verhoeven AFTER the bell has revealed he couldn't hear the klaxon to end the round.‌Verhoeven was ahead on one of the judges' scorecards as his heavyweight world title fight with Usyk entered the 11th round before the Dutchman was dropped in the dying seconds. He beat the count only for referee Mark Lyson to stop the fight after another flurry of punches from Usyk.‌But replays later showed the fight was stopped after the bell had sounded to signal the end of the round. And Verhoeven's coach Peter Fury has now revealed Lyson admitted he couldn't hear the bell. "The referee was on the flight with me on the way back," he told iFL TV. "So I spoke to him. I went over, and the best way to sort any dispute is to go and ask him the question, isn't it? To the person who's done it.‌READ MORE: Oleksandr Usyk told to retire immediately after Rico Verhoeven fightREAD MORE: Oleksandr Usyk struggles to controversial win over kickboxer Rico Verhoeven"I said, 'You've made a mistake'. And he said to me, which is very important, he said, 'Peter, I didn't hear the bell.' I said, 'Well, now that I believe, because I didn't hear the bell either'. I didn't hear the bell. I thought it was like two seconds before. I was only going off what people were telling me around the ring. I'm more focused on the fight itself."But this is what it was, so I think, look, obviously it's in the heat of the moment. Rico's gone down. Usyk has gone to finish it. But obviously, he's behind Usky. He hasn't really seen, but there's been no punches landed. So yes, it's a mistake. And I'm going to call it a genuine mistake.Article continues below"That's all I can say, because I can't accuse a fellow of anything else. That's ridiculous. There's no facts there. And after me speaking with him, he said it, and he said it honestly. He said, 'I never heard the bell.' I take that as right, because I didn't hear the bell either. But look, I thought we'd seen an excellent fight."Choose Daily Mirror as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.‌Oleksandr Usyk