Carl Froch has weighed in with his opinion on Tyson Fury’s lacklustre performance against former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Francis Ngannou.
The MMA man came in as a massive underdog, but dropped Fury in the third round and pushed the pace for a good amount of the fight.He would ultimately lose by split decision – a call many disagree with.
Speaking on TalkBoxing, Froch said he had Ngannou winning the fight despite being out-landed by Fury.
“Ngannou was in the fight, counterpunching, looking for the jab, he landed that left hook in round three. Did he make a mockery of the current heavyweight champion? What did Fury do wrong? Maybe he was ill-prepared but he was still behind his jab, throwing plenty of feints. Ngannou was exceptionally good for a debutant.”
“I didn’t score the fight, but you get a feel for who you think’s won the fight and, with that knockdown in round three, I think Ngannou won that fight. That statistics show that Fury landed more punches in six or seven or the rounds, but if somebody lands ten clean jabs in one round and the opposing fighter lands one big right hand, who wins that round? It’s subjective. Me, myself, I like to see a big right hand land and some damage be done.”
He then considered how Fury might be feeling, and whether or not retirement is an option, questioning if his legacy in the sport is good enough to hang them up.
“I think Tyson Fury’s head will hit the pillow after that Ngannou fight and think ‘can I retire on the back of that? I’ve just been gifted a decision there. Ngannou got robbed. Can I really finish my career there?'”
“Is that it? Is that his legacy? What’s he got – a win against Klitschko, two against Deontay Wilder … He’s got to fight Usyk to cement his legacy … 99% of people on social media are saying it’s a robbery.”
“I do feel like he’s taken his eye off the ball and is not that interested in having a competitive boxing match anymore. So when you say he might not fight again, he just might not.”
“But the Fury-Usyk fight is that big, and the Saudi money is that big, it just dominates everything.”
As for Ngannou, ‘The Cobra’ wants to see him step through the ropes again, even for a proper shot at the heavyweight world title.
“Ngannou belongs in the mix now with the heavyweight division. He’s proven that he can jump in there with Wilder, AJ. It’d be nice to see him in there with some of the lower level British heavyweights, but after doing that to Fury, I feel like he deserves a shot at the world title.”
Fury has signed to face Oleksandr Usyk next, but a proposed December 23 date is off the table.