Many beautiful people gathered around the boxing ring in Riyadh on Saturday for the fight between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou. Despite the knockdown in round 3, Fury managed to continue his undefeated streak. In a controversial split decision by the judges, it was the Gypsy King who prevailed. To the surprise of the many sports greats present and Ngannou himself.
Nobody wanted to miss the fight of the year between boxing champion Fury and the challenging MMA player Ngannou.
Mike Tyson, Oleksandr Usyk, Conor McGregor, Cristiano Ronaldo and even rappers Eminem and Kanye West were present.
It was clear: the (boxing) world was looking forward to the match with great curiosity, a victory for Fury seemed like a sinecure.
The surprise of those present was enormous when Ngannou hit Fury against the canvas in round 3.
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Boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk did not believe his own eyes: “This was a surprise. Maybe Fury didn’t take Ngannou seriously?”
Cristiano Ronaldo also thought so.
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Fury was on his feet quite quickly, but still needed some time to recover. The boxing champion managed to largely restore balance. There was no knockout, the jury declared Fury the winner.
Francis Ngannou did not understand the jury’s decision: “I won the fight. If Fury is honest, he agrees with me. Of course, I could have predicted this scenario as a newcomer to the sport.”
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Meanwhile, the words “theft” and “corrupt” started trending on social media.
“This was certainly not in the script,” winner Fury said. “Ngannou is a damn good fighter: strong, a solid punch and a much better boxer than we all thought.”
“I have a lot of respect for him. It was that way before the fight and that’s still the case now. This was one of my toughest fights in the past 10 years. What do I think of the result? I won, that’s what counts. “
Ngannou’s trainer and boxing legend Mike Tyson also had his opinion about the bizarre result: “I also think that Francis Ngannou won this match. Was Ngannou robbed? No, not, but everyone already knew the result in advance.”
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Why is the result so controversial?
“Is it the most controversial decision in the history of combat sports? I don’t think so,” martial arts expert Andries Beckers shakes his head.
“But there was one jury member who gave a very big advantage to Tyson Fury, while the others narrowly gave Fury or Ngannou the advantage. Then the misery begins.”
“We live in a time when images go around the world,” Beckers continues. “You can’t help but conclude that the image of the fight is that of Fury going down.”
“That in combination with the not very good image of boxing when it comes to decisions.”
Fury realizes he was very lucky.
Andries Beckers
Tyson Fury may get the advantage from the jury, but MMA fighter Francis Ngannou is still the moral winner.
“His performance is very impressive,” says Beckers. “It feels a bit like a decathlete who would suddenly win gold in individual numbers. Fury realizes that he was very lucky.”
Soon, “The Gipsy King” will take on Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk and all titles will be on the line.
“We don’t know whether it affects his self-confidence. He has a history of mental problems, which he is also open about.”
What is certain: “He gave Usyk a gigantic argument in the build-up to their fight. Usyk will insist that Fury has hardly beaten anyone from another sport. That will not be mentally easy,” Beckers concludes.
2023-10-30 09:48:50
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