Tyson Fury: ‘Francis Ngannou gave me a better fight than all the boxers did’

Tyson Fury: ‘Francis Ngannou gave me a better fight than all the boxers did’

Tyson Fury considers the bout against Francis Ngannou one of his toughest fights in years.  

The WBC heavyweight champion narrowly defeated the former UFC heavyweight titleholder by split decision last Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  

“It wasn’t the best performance, but I’m not going to make any excuses.  I had a good camp.  There’s no one to blame.  It was a tough fight.  I had to get off the floor to win, and no excuses,” Fury told iFL TV.  

Ngannou dropped Fury in the third round with a left hook.  Known for his punching power, Ngannou was a knockout artist in mixed martial arts.  Fury gave Ngannou full credit for his performance in his boxing debut.   

“It was a below par performance but take nothing away from the other man.  You’re only as good as your opponent will let you be.  That’s a fact,” he said.  

During the lead up to the fight, most people only gave Ngannou a puncher’s chance.  Fury was not one of them.  

“If I had listened to the media and so called boxing experts, ‘Oh it’s an easy fight… It’s not worth watching,’ I wouldn’t have been able to win that fight,” said Fury.  “I didn’t underestimate him.  I trained for 12 weeks, give it the best preparation that I could have done.  That’s it.” 

“We didn’t know how good he was, or how bad he was.  There was no footage of him.  Never seen the man fight before as a boxer.  He was a lot more awkward than I thought he’d be… He was an awkward man.  He was good at what he was doing, so fair play to him.  Don’t take anything away from him.  He game me a better fight than all the boxers did in the last 10 years.  I think that’s my toughest fight in years.  Not so much my toughest fight in years, but maybe he won the 10-8 round and maybe won one other round, but other than that I was just boxing and he couldn’t really close the distance down on me.”

Related: Tyson Fury believes ‘ring rust’ played a role in Francis Ngannou fight

When Ngannou dropped Fury in the third round, it sent shockwaves throughout Kingdom Arena and thought the wold.  

“I don’t remember anything.  I got a little bit greedy.  I hit him with a 1-2 down the pipe clean, and I went to jump back in front of a 1-2 and he got me on the way out,” explained Fury.  “There’s no one who to blame.  Blame me.  There’s no blame the trainer, blame the manager, blame the cut man.  Blame me if you’re going to blame anybody.  It was what it was.  It’s the fight game.  It’ s not tap dancing.  You go in there, you have a fight.  You get out of there and you get paid.  The good thing is I got paid.  I’m going home to my family and we go on to the next undisputed fight, so happy days.”         

“There is no excuses.  You’re in there on the night.  I did the best I could.  That’s it.  There’s no excuses, ‘Oh, I didn’t perform well because I didn’t tie my shoelaces in a certain manner.  It was what it was.  It was a tough fight.  He was a good, game man.  There’s noting else I can say about it.  It was a good fight.  I did my best.  I won the fight,  and out we go on to the next one.  I’ve been paid, been laid.  I’m going to go home now.”