"Gave me a better fight than all the boxers" - Tyson Fury is pure class in breakdown of what happened against Francis Ngannou
Lineal world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury took on ex-UFC heavyweight titleholder Francis Ngannou in a blockbuster showdown in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this past weekend.
The vastly experienced Fury was a massive favorite against Ngannou, who was was making his professional boxing debut in comparison. However, Ngannou outperformed expectations and took the fight to the distance, even managing to knock down his opponent.
Fury spoke in an interview with iFL TV in the aftermath and stated that he had not taken the fight or his opponent lightly despite the insistence of many to undermine 'The Predator'.
He said:
“No, no, I didn’t train for a fight like that. Not one time, did I? That’s what happens if I would have listened to the media and all the so-called boxing experts, ‘Oh it’s an easy fight, it’s a mismatch, not worth watching’, then I wouldn’t have been able to win that fight. No, didn’t underestimate him at all. I trained for 12 weeks, gave it the best preparation I could have done. And that’s it. We didn’t know how good he was or how bad he was."
Tyson Fury further elaborated on what he meant with regards to the uncertainty surrounding Francis Ngannou's potential as a boxer:
"There was no footage of him, never seen a man fight before as a boxer and that was it. So he was a lot more awkward than I thought he’d be and he wasn’t walking up to me and he was just an awkward man. He was good at what he was doing so fair play to him. Don’t take anything away from him. He gave me a better fight that all the boxers did in the last 10 years. I think that’s been my toughest fight I’ve had for years.”
Check out his full comments below [1:28]:
Tyson Fury admits 'ring rust' in controversial win against Francis Ngannou
Tyson Fury managed a split decision victory over Francis Ngannou amid much controversy.
Fury himself admitted that his performance was underwhelming and singled out his timing and lack of activity for the past year as factors that led to it.
He said in an interview with Boxing King Media.
“I felt my timing was quite off. I’d been out of the ring for nearly a year again. It was a little bit of ring rust. It was what it was. It was far from one of my best performances. It wasn’t a vintage Tyson Fury, but listen, you do what you’ve got to do in there to get through and on to the next one.”
Check out his comments below [2:41]: