By Brian Webber: Tyson Fury’s dad, John Fury, says he only gave Francis Ngannou one round in their ten-round bout on Saturday, and that was the third round that he dropped the ‘Gyspy King.’
After the fight, John sounded like a politician doing damage control, blaming Fury’s off-performance on his ten months of inactivity.
That excuse doesn’t work because Ngannou hadn’t fought in 21 months. He’d been out of action for twice as long as Fury, and he was making his pro debut in boxing.
John feels that Fury dominated Ngannou (0-1) with his jab and outboxed him in their headliner at the Boulevard Hall, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It’s a good thing that the 59-year-old John wasn’t one of the judges working the fight because if he turned in a lopsided score in favor of Fury, he would have been criticized heavily by the boxing world.
An oddball score out of left field in favor of Fury would have tainted the event, leaving boxing fans with the impression that it was scripted for the flabby-looking Tyson to be given the victory, no matter how poorly he fought.
The judges scores were 95-94 for Ngannou, 96-93, and 95-94 for Fury.
Did Fury overlook Ngannou?
“Listen, it’s world champion MMA,” said Oleksandr Usyk to the media when asked about his thoughts on Ngannou dropping Fury. “A hard punch and mental pride. Maybe Tyson Fury is not serious. ‘Oh, it’s an MMA fighter. blah-blah-blah.'”
When you look at Ngannou’s huge power, it’s not surprising that he was able to give Fury problems. He’s like another George Foreman type of puncher, and someone like that would always give Fury nightmares.
What made the fight even more difficult for Fury was the style he’s been using to win his contests in the last three years, which involves a lot of leaning, holding & wrestling to wear out his opponents.
Tonight, Fury couldn’t use that approach because the 272 lb Ngannou was too strong, and he was the superior inside puncher & grappler. Once Fury’s inside game was unavailable, he had to fall back on his outside game, which consisted of throwing limp jabs with no snap on them and weak right hands.
Fury has no power, and his mobility is gone now that he’s in his mid-30s, fat, and can longer dance around the ring like he did eight years ago when he was younger.
“For me? Of course, I was surprised,” said Usyk when asked if he was surprised by the knockdown. “I was watching the knockdown, and I said, ‘Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa. Francis, be careful, please.’ I said, ‘Tyson, move, move, jab.’ I say. Stop the video, please,” said Usyk.
Fury was lucky
“I knew Ngannou was going to bring it. A big, solid man can punch like a horse kicking, and this is boxing. This is why people buy fights because you just don’t know,” said John Fury to Fight Hub TV, talking about Tyson Fury’s close 10 round split decision victory over Francis Ngannou on Saturday night.
“I thought he [Fury] won unanimous. He was working behind the jab. Really, I only gave him the knockdown round. He [Ngannou] was getting out-jabbed and outworked. We’re just happy to get the win,” said John.
Fury lucked out with the two judges giving him the victory because he easily could have lost, and no one would complain if he did. What’s important now is for Fury to lay off the eating and get in the gym to start losing weight to prepare for the fight with Usyk on December 23rd.
Fury is carrying around too much fat, and he needs to trim off at least 20 lbs to get down to around 250 lbs. He’s not going to be able to use his size to lean on Usyk like he did against Deontay Wilder because he’s going to move around the ring, making it impossible to be mauled.
“Guys, that size, it’s only one connection, isn’t it? Tyson has been a long time out of the ring,’ said John. “He needed the ten rounds. It’s probably done him more good if he’d won it in two rounds. It was a great fight, a great venue.
“Listen, you got to go with the judges. What they say matters, doesn’t it?” said John about the judges scoring it close.
“What can you say about it? It’s absolutely brilliant. Credit & props to everybody who put it on. No, no, no. He’s the hardest puncher in the world,” said John when asked if he was surprised by the power of Ngannou.
“Tyson does get up and win, doesn’t he? That’s the heart of a world champion. To climb off the floor and win,” said John.
