Francis Ngannou shocked the world when he knocked Tyson Fury down in round three of their crossover fight.
The Brit would go on to win a split decision, but it was far from the easy night’s work that most in the sport predicted. In fact, many had Ngannou winning.
That includes Mike Tyson, who was drafted in to hype the event and give the MMA star some boxing pointers. Post-fight, he said that Ngannou won, and that everybody else knew it, too.
“How did you score it? That’s what I thought [Francis won]! It wasn’t a robbery, because everybody knows the outcome.”
If some believe the bout was controversial, it was nowhere near the levels of Tyson’s most infamous outing against Evander Holyfield. Following a TKO loss in their first fight, Tyson became frustrated in the rematch and bit Holyfield’s ear, losing by disqualification.
Despite having ironed out their differences, they disagree on this contest.
Although praising Ngannou, particularly for switch-hitting in the fight, Holyfield told Seconds Out that he gave the win to Fury and doubted the MMA star could hang with other top heavyweights.
“I think Tyson still had the edge. The fact of the matter is he got dropped, so that means two rounds he lost, but he did throw more punches than the guy. I don’t think it was mistakes, I think that he felt that he was so much better than the guy.”
“Not exactly [Ngannou can’t beat the top heavyweights.] I think he fought good, yes, but you got to do that consistently. Ain’t nobody else gonna play that like this.”
The biggest news in terms of the heavyweight division is that Fury’s undisputed fight – something both Tyson and Holyfield achieved – with Oleksandr Usyk has now been pushed back from a promised December 23 date.