Referee Mark Lyson believes he likely made a mistake when he stopped the headliner between Oleksandr Usyk and Rico Verhoeven in Giza. His admission to Tyson Fury’s uncle and Verhoeven’s trainer, Peter Fury, has only added to what has now snowballed into a major boxing controversy. Speaking with iFL TV, Fury reflected on that personal exchange.

“The referee was on the flight with me on the way back. So I spoke to him,” Peter Fury said. “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. Because obviously Rico’s my fighter. It’s in my interest, and I want to know why he stopped a fight seconds after the bell when he’s been put down properly. He’s got up.

“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.'”

That interaction also led the well-regarded trainer to admit to Mark Lyson that he hadn’t heard the bell himself either.

“I thought it was like two seconds before because I’m only going off what people are telling me around the ring,” Fury added. “I am more focused on the fight itself.”

While the exchange between Peter Fury and Mark Lyson was sportsmanlike, it also reinforces the belief that a major title fight was stopped early.

For purists, the Usyk-Verhoeven controversy might echo the chaotic scenes that unfolded 36 years ago at the MGM Grand, when Julio Cesar Chavez and Meldrick Taylor met for the light welterweight unification.

Like Rico Verhoeven now, Taylor appeared to be on his way to a historic victory on the scorecards when referee Richard Steele stopped the fight with just two seconds left in the fight after a late Chavez onslaught dropped Taylor. Though Taylor managed to beat the count, Steele stopped the fight anyway after Taylor failed to properly respond to his question.

The comparison is precisely why Fury believes Lyson made an honest mistake rather than a deliberate one.

“I think, look, obviously it’s in the heat at the moment. Rico’s gone down,” he added. “Usyk’s gone in to finish it, but obviously he’s behind Usyk. He hasn’t really seen it, but there have been no punches landed. So yes, it’s a mistake. And he’s made what I’m going to call a genuine mistake. That’s all I can do because I can’t accuse the fellow of anything else; that’s ridiculous. There are no facts there. And after me speaking with him, he said it, and he said it honestly. He said, ‘I never hear the bell.’ So I take that as right because I didn’t hear the bell either.”

Still, not everyone appears willing to give Lyson the benefit of the doubt. Rico Verhoeven believes the referee’s decision needs to be reviewed again.

Rico Verhoeven takes action after controversial loss to Oleksandr Usyk

As a result, reports now indicate the former kickboxer is planning to appeal the outcome.

“Yeah, to be completely honest, I just saw the end of the fight because of all the comments I was reading, and they stopped the fight after the bell [rang],” he told Boxing News. “So the bell went, and then they stopped the fight. So yeah, I think we might just go and appeal it because this doesn’t make any sense, right?”

If Verhoeven moves ahead with the appeal, it would officially become the second time an Oleksandr Usyk fight has faced an appeal over a controversial decision by a referee.

The first came three years ago, when Oleksandr Usyk defended his unified heavyweight title against Daniel Dubois.

While the bout ended with Usyk winning by a ninth-round KO, controversy erupted during the fifth round. The Ukrainian was dropped by a body shot from Dubois, only for the referee to deem it a low blow, leading the Englishman’s team to file an appeal.

Later, the WBA’s decision to uphold the result of the fight brought the matter to an end.

It is now unclear how Verhoeven’s appeal will play out. Otherwise, he may have to follow the route Meldrick Taylor took by pursuing a rematch. But that scenario becomes possible only if the Saudis delay Usyk’s mandatory obligation against Agit Kabayel.