Tyson Fury survives heavy knockdown to win controversial split decision against Francis Ngannou
29/10/2023 00:33
Tyson Fury needed help from the judges to maintain his perfect record.
‘The Gypsy King’ suffered a heavy knockdown in round three and seemed to have suffered a massive upset defeat after tens of rounds of boxing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
One judge gave the fight to Ngannou with a 95-94 score.
However, he was overruled by the two other officials who awarded a split decision win to Fury with controversial scorecards of 96-93 and 95-94.
The Englishman came out aggressively and landed big early before his fight with Ngannou became a rather tentative affair through the first three minutes.
Round one burst into life in the final moments when Fury landed an eye-catching right hand that 'The Predator' ate without a problem.
The former UFC heavyweight champion landed a massive left hook early in round two and Fury spent the next couple of minutes dabbing at his right eye.
A cut on the WBC heavyweight king's forehead became apparent but he seemed relatively unbothered as he kept his opponent at bay until the bell rang.
Ngannou almost sprung a monumental upset in the third frame when he dropped Fury with a massive left hook – but he was unable to find the finish when his rival rose to his feet.
The best heavyweight in boxing started to bite down on his gumshield in round four and tried to take Ngannou out with a series of massive punches.
Fury's opponent continued to land and seemed to be the much stronger man – at one point he threw the 35-year-old into the corner like it was nothing.
In round five, Fury started to find his rhythm and landed his best punch yet.
Ngannou looked off-balance and a bit tired as his boxing debut ticked past the midway point.
An uneventful sixth stanza followed but Ngannou continued to look comfortable, and the TNT Sports commentators began to speculate about how far ahead the former UFC star was on the scorecards.
Fury was down again in round seven. Luckily for him, the referee called it a slip and he avoided suffering his second 10-8 round of the evening.
Ngannou ate an uppercut in the eighth but ended up landing a big combination on his rival who looked tired, discombobulated and on the verge of suffering an embarrassing stoppage defeat.
A tentative round nine followed as neither man managed to land anything clean.
It was the same thing in round ten and the only flash point was when Ngannou leapt in with a Superman punch rarely seen in boxing but often used in MMA.
Fury and Ngannou embraced after the final bell before celebrating with their respective teams and waiting for the official result to be announced by legendary announcer Michael Buffer.
Both men seemed content with the result, but Fury’s supposed undisputed clash with Oleksandr Usyk appears to be on hold for the time being.
The two best heavyweights in boxing were supposed to fight on December 23 and an announcement was expected to be made after Fury vs Ngannou.
Fury may need to rematch Ngannou before finally facing Usyk.
