Tyson Fury was expected to carry Francis Ngannou for a few rounds, then drop and eventually stop the former UFC heavyweight champion on the Cameroonian’s boxing debut. Instead, he had to rise from the canvas in round three and narrowly squeezed past with a split decision nod after 30 minutes, as the long-awaited undisputed world title fight against unified champion Oleksandr Usyk was again put on ice. What happens next, is unclear.
Froch: Fury looked a bit ring rusty, Francis beat him
- Froch on talkSPORT Boxing: “Fury looked a bit ring rusty, didn’t look as good as he has in the past but Ngannou was exceptionally good, considering it was his professional debut. Sounds ridiculous we’re saying it was competitive, everyone thought it would be a walkover.”
- Pushes back on the notion Fury did enough, using scoring criteria to make his point: “With the third-round knockdown, I think Francis won. CompuBox numbers were close, Fury outlanded him in a number of rounds but they’re counting jabs… if someone lands ten clean jabs and the opposing fighter lands a big right hand, who wins the round? It’s subjective.”
- As critics and fans alike suggest the wrong man won, Froch says the WBC heavyweight champion was victorious as a direct consequence of future plans in Saudi with Usyk undisputed fight
- On the final bell optics: “Ngannou boxed the fight of his life and has been robbed of a decision. Look at Fury’s face; left eye closed, nick on his head, Ngannou was pretty much unmarked – Fury looked like he got beat up!”
Three-time world super-middleweight champion Carl Froch hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with Tyson Fury, but the recently-inducted Hall of Famer prides himself on being honest – like him or not – so it wasn’t surprising to see him and former foe George Groves dissect the latter’s split decision win over Francis Ngannou.
As mentioned above, the 46-year-old set the scene as most did: Fury – layoff or not – was facing a boxing novice, his MMA experience immaterial, and expected to make quick work of him on the world scene as multiple stars watched ringside in Riyadh.
Instead, it wasn’t just a flat performance but a startingly poor one from the WBC heavyweight titlist and one many feel is rooted in greed given the Oleksandr Usyk undisputed bout was already agreed a month before this bout was set to take place.
“It was a big-money fight for Fury, he’s getting a bit above his station shouting and screaming that it’s about money not legacy.
I feel like he’s taken his eye off the ball and isn’t that interested in having another competitive boxing match anymore. There’s that much at stake against Usyk, the Saudi money and the [undisputed] fight, it dominates the sport.”
- Froch on factors impacting Fury, then looking to the future
Couple that surprising performance with another unfavourable decision when the scorecards were read, it doesn’t reflect well on a popular discipline Ngannou’s striking coach Dewey Cooper told me is a business disguised as a sport post-fight.
Froch said the controversial finish to his first win over George Groves back in November 2013 felt like a defeat, and in his head needed to pursue a rematch.
He prevailed again via R8 TKO six months later and retired on top as a unified world super-middleweight champion. Naturally, Fury would question whether he could retire after such a flat and sluggish outing – setting aside all the legacy talk.
Groves: Has the WBC champion had competitive sparring?
- Groves hints that Fury’s reported 12-week training camp may not have been as strenuous as claimed: “It looked like someone not used to getting hit and Ngannou is strong, can hold his stance and form, the punches were slow but weighty enough, you can’t hold an MMA guy because that’s their bread-and-butter. Felt like he overlooked Francis and was underprepared.”
- He also warns the Usyk undisputed fight must happen sometime soon – IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic (16-0, 13 KOs) will lobby for the title to be made vacant, as it hasn’t been defended recently. Fury was stripped of that title back in Dec. 2015 for not boxing his mandatory then
- “I think Fury might just sail into the sunset. If he loses [to Usyk], is that more hurtful than missing out on a mega payday? That might be the last time we see Tyson, maybe he’s done enough, desire’s not there and he doesn’t need to roll the dice. It’ll hurt more to get beat by Usyk than not fight him when he should have, there will always be someone else…”
- Both he and Froch agree Ngannou has a viable boxing future going forward, aged 37: “Everyone knows that if you make it in the UFC, you get the profile but not the money, that’s why they end up in a boxing ring. He reportedly earned £10m, has loads of options now and the controversy means he can get a rematch… his stock has risen. I’d like to see him in with [former world champions] Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder…”
Billy Joe Saunders, a longtime friend of Fury, posted on Instagram Tyson has too many yes men in his camp and after a long layoff, will be much improved for Usyk.
It’s a typical throwaway phrase used to excuse and often justify poor performances when a heavy favourite is either soundly beaten or guilty of overlooking their opponent and while there may be an element of truth there, Fury repeatedly refused to read anything into the notion there would be anyone to blame besides himself.
“Perhaps he’s saving himself,” said Groves as he surmised Fury’s competitive sparring rounds probably would’ve been few and far between in this camp.
Although he spent time training alongside Martin Bakole, a friend in former world titlist Joseph Parker and English champion Solomon Dacres too, there is a suggestion he was coasting through with better opposition in the offing.
After all, IBF cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia and others are set to spar him in preparation for Usyk. Parker and Dacres both sparred with Fury for the first time during this most recent camp – many deem one a fading heavyweight force and the other is at domestic level – while Bakole can’t exactly emulate Ngannou’s style.
During an understandably frosty-but-direct interview with iFL today, Fury admitted they hadn’t prepared for Ngannou in the way you’d expect.
“We didn’t know how good or bad he [Ngannou] was, no footage of him, never seen him fight before as a boxer, he was a lot more awkward and wasn’t walking to me.
Good at what he was doing, fair play, gave me a better fight than all the boxers did in the last ten years – toughest I’ve had for years.”
- on whether Ngannou was better than Fury thought he’d be
He corrected himself shortly afterwards having declared him the toughest opponent in recent memory, but the damage was already done. It came back to bite him here, and now frustratingly the future at heavyweight is up in the air once more.
Picture source: Top Rank, quotes via talkSPORT as hyperlinked
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