Tyson Fury won the fight on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but it feels like the real winner was Francis Ngannou of the event.
Despite Ngannou dropping Fury in the third round of their non-title match with a scraping left hook, the latter escaped the fight with a narrow split-decision victory. The official judge’s scorecards were as follows in Fury’s favor: (94-95, 96-93, 95-94).
Fury, who didn’t appear to be in top condition–even by his standards–controlled several rounds with his jab and 1-2 combinations. When he kept the fight at a distance, moved, and boxed, he had success.
However, Ngannou’s boxing skills were far more advanced than anyone seemed to expect. He switched between orthodox and southpaw throughout the fight, kept his punches from trending wildly as they sometimes do in mixed martial arts, and appeared to hurt Fury on at least two occasions.
Perhaps one of the most significant factors in the fight was Ngannou’s strength in the clinch. Fury can usually bully his opponent in the clinch with his strength. Against Ngannou, this game plan wasn’t as effective. Ngannou proved so strong he could maneuver each clinch to his favor. Despite the loss, it is difficult to express how impressive Ngannou looked in this fight.
Fury wasn’t in great shape and may have taken his opponent lightly. Even still, Ngannou deserves all the credit in the world for the most extraordinary crossover performance in combat sports history.
Even before the decision was read, many had declared Ngannou a winner because of his effort.
Ngannou is contractually obligated to compete in MMA with PFL, and Fury is set to fight Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight title in December.
The ESPN crew made their desires to have Ngannou return to boxing clear, but it is doubtful we will see him face his box again before he kicks off PFL’s Superfight division.
With Ngannou’s performance, his PFL debut is going to be even bigger when it takes place in 2024. As for Fury, there will be tons of doubt about his preparedness for a challenge from a hungry Usyk, who might be licking his chops after watching Saturday’s performance.
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