AP Photo/Gregory Payan, File
The general consensus among boxing fans is that former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou was robbed of a win against WBC and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in a 10-round bout on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Fury narrowly defeated Ngannou via split decision (96-93, 95-94, 94-95).
The highly competitive bout appeared to reach a turning point when Ngannou knocked down Fury with a ferocious left hook. It marked the seventh knockdown of Fury’s career.
Top Rank Boxing @trboxing
NGANNOU JUST DROPPED FURY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#FuryNgannou | #BattleOfTheBaddest | https://t.co/2heUqaYy86 pic.twitter.com/T4CPTH6hc9
Bleacher Report @BleacherReport
These photos 🥶
(📸: Justin Setterfield) pic.twitter.com/InBpaXEURD
However, Fury regained his form and the two continued to battle through a full 10 rounds.
While Ngannou lost the fight, it was quite the coming out party for the 37-year-old in his professional boxing debut, and many believe he should have won, including Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid:
Ariel Helwani @arielhelwani
Bullshit.
Francis won that fight. I don’t care what anyone says.
People’s champ. All hail. pic.twitter.com/fGpUmvl5Bn
Nathan Diaz @NateDiaz209
Tyson fury lost and the boxing commentary biased af dumbasses they need to learn how to box ..
Henry Cejudo @HenryCejudo
Ngannou was robbed! Gotta protect that fight with Usyk 🤷♂️ https://t.co/ywk3YqD84a
Logan Paul @LoganPaul
Really sucks to see Ngannou get blatantly robbed like that… boxing needs a more objective system in place for scoring
The subjectivity & inherent bias of hand-picked judges is ruining the credibility of the sport 📉
Ngannou walked away from UFC as the heavyweight champion and entered the boxing world with fairly tepid expectations, but after Saturday’s bout with Fury, fans will be clamoring to see how he stacks up with some of boxing’s best.
As for Fury, he’ll prepare for a bout against Oleksandr Usyk in an effort to defend his WBC title.