By Gerardo Granados: As the reader already knows, pro boxing has never been, is, or will be perfect. After all, it is part of the nature of the beast to see ridiculous scoring and also to witness bizarre judge decisions. What is relatively new to pro boxing is seeing how the so-called big names show up to pick up a huge check but not so to please the crowd.
Nowadays, we, the boxing fans, get to see a super middleweight titlist to celebrate his win against a super welter champion as if he, the 168-pounder, had defeated a top-notch 168-pound contender.
We get to hear from those “boxing stars icons” to proclaim to be great, to brag to be building legacies. But the truth is that most of the time, we, the fight fans, only receive TV way overhyped boxing stars who, at times, lack the very least basic boxing skills fundamentals.
The worst is to see them engage in glorified sparring sessions disguised as title fights at the main event instead of them delivering to fight fans a fight worth of mention.
Ares and Apedemak know that last night, Francis Ngannou brought back that feeling that you and I had not had in a long time; it is to see a fighter doing its best to beat up his opponent, committed to trying to win, and not just box around playing it safe and counter.
Tyson Fury worked his ass off to defeat a debutant, and I might say got a little help to do so. He even pulled dirty tricks and threw a nasty flagrant elbow on Ngannou´s forehead that the referee refused to penalize. But still was not able to impose his will over a novice boxer who was not afraid to try to win.
On social media, we can see how most pro fighters, be it boxers or MMA fighters, saw Fury lose. The same happened with boxing fans around the world; most saw him lose. A friend of mine told me that John of Bohemia saw Fury win.
I must say that I did not expect Ngannou to be so successful at defense, his team came up with a solid game plan, and Francis was not only hungry and determined, but he also showed discipline and poise during ten rounds.
Although I think Ngannou might have gassed mid-ninth round. Taking into consideration that this was his boxing debut, well, he did great, and I am eager to see him hack in the ring any time soon. I would like to see him against Andy Ruiz Jr or veteran Luis Ortiz and then take either Deontay Wilder or Anthony Joshua.
While Francis showed up to win, pressing the fight, Fury ran and hugged a bit too much. I scored it a draw, 95-95, with the knockdown results in 95-94 for Francis Ngannou. It was a good fight, competitive and close rounds. But the knockdown and those two rounds in which Ngannou hurt Fury gave Francis the edge in at least five clear rounds for him.
When the scorecards were announced, you could see disappointment in Ngannou´s face while Fury was relieved. I bet the reader was not surprised at all by the judge´s ruling at all. After all, Fury is supposed to be fighting against Aleksandr Usyk next, so a loss for Fury would have ruined interest in that fight.
To be honest, I believe that Fury could have won the fight if it had gone twelve rounds instead of ten. Tyson Fury did not lose his lineal status against Ngannou, but we cannot deny it put a dent in it. Although Tyson Fury did lose his people’s champion status, he is no longer the heavyweight king. The king is dead. Long live the king, King Francis Ngannou.
I guess that we can agree that a fight against Usyk still is interesting, but not as much as before we saw how Fury performed against Ngannou.
The MMA fans have the right to celebrate and even to brag about it. Ngannou did it. And we boxing fans have nothing to feel ashamed of; this is what a legit fight brings. This is the nature of the beast; when a determined fighter engages to win, anything can happen. Let´s all enjoy together the fact that we fight fans got to see a real heavyweight fight instead of a mismatch as the Fury vs Chisora III.
Yes, Tyson Fury got the official win. Perhaps it was close, and it could have gone for one or the other. Maybe there were interests involved that turned the table. But for sure, in the eyes of fight fans, Tyson Fury lost against Francis Ngannou, the Gypsy King lost his people’s champion status, and there is only one way to regain it. Does the reader agree?