Billy Joe Saunders says 'Tyson Fury' turned up against Francis Ngannou not 'The Gypsy King' and he had no game plan
31/10/2023 17:30
Billy Joe Saunders has chalked Tyson Fury’s performance against Francis Ngannou down to not being ‘switched on’.
Fury did not look his usual self as he was dropped by Ngannou on his way to a split decision victory, but many people thought the Cameroonian deserved to win.
And Saunders, who is a close friend of Fury’s, has shared his thoughts on the fight with talkSPORT, saying: “It wasn’t a robbery, it was very close, it could’ve gone either way and obviously Tyson got the nod. He’s the champion.”
Saunders continued: “But, it wasn’t really Tyson whatsoever, from the word go, I knew he was going to have a tough night because I know Tyson inside out.
“Normally you see him standing up tall, getting behind that jab, using his feints and I sort of… look if someone said to me you’re fighting someone from the UFC in the boxing ring, I would probably take my eye off the ball a little bit, maybe not go through the fine details.
“The reality is with a novice you need to make him look at the right hand and then hit him with the left hand, that’s what he needed to do. And we know Tyson can do it, he’s had an off night.
“If Tyson was a fraction of himself, Ngannou wouldn’t lay a glove on him, but I’ve seen Tyson in sparring, I’ve seen the way he acts in sparring when he’s fighting certain people and to me it was like he wasn’t switched on. And fair play to Ngannou he was a lot better than people thought.”
The former two-weight world champion went on to say: “To build-up to a fight you need fear and everything has to be running through your head weeks before, you need that bit of fear inside you.
“And when you’ve got no nerves and no fear and everybody’s in his ear saying he’s gonna do this to him or do that, he’s a novice, he can’t fight, I think that plays a big part in it and I think Tyson wasn’t geared up.
“He might have been in the gym and doing his sessions, but there’s a difference between that and actually working on a game plan…
“I don’t think there was much tactical game plan going into the fight and Ngannou brought something to the ring that none of us thought he could do, he was moving his feet very well for a UFC heavyweight.”
Saunders finished by saying: “Tyson Fury didn’t turn into ‘The Gypsy King’ himself, it was Tyson Fury in the ring that night and when Tyson gets into the ring and he’s not switched on… surprises can happen.
“I think it was a blessing that he got dropped, because it woke him up and made him think, ‘I need to step it up here a little bit’ and I think he just did enough.”
