Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou nearly defeated boxing champion Tyson Fury over the weekend in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “The Gypsy King” believes ‘ring rust’ played a role in his performance.
“I felt my timing was quite off,” Fury said. “I’ve been out of the ring for nearly a year – a little bit of ring rust, but 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 have to do to get through and on to the next one.”
“He punches hard, but it was a bit like a hunk on the back of the head in that knockdown in Round 3. Apart from that, he didn’t really get me with much else,” Fury said.
“You can’t take anything away from Francis Ngannou,” Fury said. “He’s a good fighter and gave me a good fight, and that was it. I trained very well. I prepared very good, and I don’t have any excuses or anything. Some days you have good days, some days you don’t. You crack on and you continue moving forward.” (quotes via MMAJunkie).
Heading into the fight, most people only gave Ngannou a punchers chance in winning. Following the bout, mixed martial arts fans, and others, felt like Ngannou did enough to win. The scorecard, or two of them, reflected otherwise.
https://www.mmaweekly.com/news/tyson-fury-believes-ring-rust-played-a-role-in-francis-ngannou-fight
