The WBC heavyweight boxing champion, Tyson Fury, expressed his astonishment at the skill set of UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou after their contentious split decision match on Sunday, October 29.
Fury conceded, “He’s provided me with one of the most challenging fights I’ve faced in the last decade. This was definitely not what I had anticipated.”
In a ten-round heavyweight main event held at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Fury weathered a third-round knockdown and narrowly averted a major upset with a split-decision triumph over the former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou.
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Reflecting on Ngannou’s tactics, Fury remarked, “He is an incredibly awkward adversary with devastating punching power. My respect for him has only grown, both before and after the fight.”
Fury further acknowledged, “He wasn’t an aggressor; he mainly held back, patiently waiting for me to strike and then countering. He has proven to be a much more skilled boxer than we had expected, providing me with one of the most demanding challenges in the past decade.”
While Fury ultimately emerged victorious against Ngannou, who was making his professional boxing debut, the Cameroonian fighter left a lasting impact with his performance. Ngannou succeeded in knocking Fury to the canvas and came remarkably close to defeating the heavyweight champion.
The judges’ scorecards favored Fury, with two judges scoring it 96-93 and 95-94 in his favor, while a third judge had it 95-94 for Ngannou. However, the tight decision sparked controversy, and the hashtags #Robbed and #Racism trended on Twitter, with some boxing fans claiming that Ngannou had been treated unfairly.
Despite the contentious outcome, Fury’s scheduled undisputed heavyweight championship bout with Oleksandr Usyk remains on the horizon. However, the proposed date of December 23 remains uncertain, as neither Fury nor his promoter, Frank Warren, could confirm the date due to an injury Fury sustained to his face.