Oleksandr Usyk was made to work for his win over Rico Verhoeven last month, coming extremely close to a shocking upset defeat. Now, heavyweight rival Tyson Fury has shared his assessment of Usyk’s performance against the Dutch kickboxer.

When Usyk signed to defend his heavyweight world title against Verhoeven, much of the boxing world was frustrated at the news, believing it would be an easy night’s work for the Ukrainian.

However, come fight night, those who dismissed Verhoeven’s chances were left in shock, as the 1-0 recorded contender gave Usyk ‘his toughest fight to date’ until a controversial round 11 stoppage saved the champion’s blushes.

Speaking to iFL TV, Fury believes that Usyk ‘probably lost every round’ of the contest, whilst explaining why he believes that the Ukrainian’s reasons for avoiding a clash with Moses Itauma are false.

“Bulls**t. Oleksandr is coming up to around 40 years old, he has just been pushed all of the way and probably lost every round against a kickboxer. So, I don’t think that he wants to fight a 21-year-old kid who is mustard, for no gain.

“He is not going to gain big money because Moses doesn’t have that following at the moment or the popularity. He is coming up, he is a rising star but he is not on top at the moment, so he [Usyk] isn’t going to gain anything from it.

“It’s all to lose and nothing to gain. If he beats Moses, he has beat a young kid coming up and if he loses to Moses, he has lost to a 21-year-old, so it doesn’t make much sense [for Usyk to fight him].”

Usyk is expected to next take on Germany’s Agit Kabayel, where a similar performance could result in the end of his unbeaten run.