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Was Francis Ngannou robbed against Tyson Fury?
Francis Ngannou was a point away from defeating Tyson Fury this past Saturday. In perhaps one of the most surprising performances of the year, the ‘Predator‘ came close to upsetting Fury, who ultimately got the nod on two of three judges‘ scorecards. Most, including Ngannou disagreed with the scores, especially the 96-93 returned in favor of Fury.
“I’m confident that I won that fight,” said Ngannou on his official YouTube channel. “I wasn’t surprised for what happened last night. I knew that it would’ve happened.
“…I think it’s a shame for boxing,” continued Ngannou. “I think it’s a shame for this sport. I think those judges or whoever, they should be sanctioned. I want to understand why those judges judge like that. For me, to be honest, I don’t care that much about that decision, but I think those kinds of decisions mess up a lot of people’s career. This win could’ve been a win that my career depended on.”
Though he had a lot to say on the scoring of his fight, Ngannou also wanted to shed light on the officiating.
Ngannou calls out referee for failing to deduct point from Tyson Fury
Francis Ngannou had some choice words for referee Michael Griffin, who failed to deduct a point from Fury after the champion threw an illegal elbow in the sixth round of their bout.
“Last Saturday, I was a lion fighting a pack of hyenas — Tyson Fury, the referee for allowing an illegal elbow and the Judes for their scorecards,” posted Ngannou on X (formerly Twitter).
“I watched the elbow video tens of times and I don’t understand why the referee didn’t take a point from him.”
If the point was deducted, then we would have had a split draw on our hands.
Is a rematch next for Francis Ngannou?
Be that as it may, the split decision loss was in every sense of the word a huge win for Ngannou. His options are many. He‘s got a deal with the PFL to fight MMA for that promotion. They‘re saying that the only “compelling” MMA fight for Francis is against UFC champ Jon Jones. That would require some co-promotion between the UFC and PFL, which a former UFC champion has already laid the groundwork for.
Meanwhile, heavyweight boxing contender Deontay Wilder is very interested in fighting Ngannou, potentially even in an MMA bout. For Ngannou, it doesn‘t matter who comes next. He just wants to fight again.
“I have no preference [on what I want to do next],” said Ngannou. “I think Tyson is going to fight Oleksandr Usyk. I don’t know when exactly, so I don’t know when we will be able to do the rematch, but I do believe we’re going to run this back. In the meantime, I still have some MMA fights. I might go to PFL, get some fights and then come back [to boxing]. We’re going to meet here [again] some time soon.”
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