Tyson Fury reminded an army of critics after his shockingly close victory over Francis Ngannou of what he predicted before their 10-round, non-title fight.
The unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion anticipates an easier fight when he opposes Oleksandr Usyk than Ngannou gave him in the pro boxing debut for the former UFC champion. Ngannou dropped Fury late in the third round with a left hook and defeated Fury on one scorecard, but Fury won a split decision at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Listen, [Usyk is] a smaller man than Francis,” Fury told ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna in the ring. “I always said Francis was a much more dangerous fight than Oleksandr. And that’s it.”
His unconvincing victory over the hard-hitting Ngannou advanced Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) toward a more significant title unification fight with Ukraine’s Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), a more skillful southpaw who watched Fury struggle with Ngannou from a ringside seat.
The undefeated champions believed before Fury edged Ngannou that they would fight for Fury’s WBC crown and Usyk’s IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO belts December 23, just eight weeks from Saturday night. Fury and his co-promoter, Frank Warren, weren’t as certain afterward if that would be enough time for Fury to recover from a taxing 10-round fight during which he suffered a small cut on the lower left side of his forehead and some swelling around his left eye.
Fury, 35, spent 12 weeks in training camp for his pay-per-view main event versus Ngannou. He would take only about a week off if he were to face Usyk on December 23 at Kingdom Arena, which was announced September 29 as the site of their fight.
Usyk and Fury faced off in the ring Saturday night, but Ngannou’s surprisingly strong performance understandably consumed much of the post-fight coverage.
“Listen, he was a good fighter,” Fury said. “No excuses. He’s a good boxer. He’s a lot better than I thought he’d be. And he gave me a good fight. Fair play to him. God bless him.”
The 6-foot-9, 277¾-pound Fury was surprised by how competitive Ngannou made a fight FanDuel sportsbook listed him as a 20-1 favorite to win. The Manchester native claimed he wasn’t badly hurt, however, when he went down from the counter left hook that the 6-foot-4, 272-pound Ngannou landed in an exchange.
“Just a flash knockdown, behind the head,” Fury said of a shot that appeared to land to the right side of his head. “I think it was like a glancing blow at the back of the head. And it was what it was. I was all right.”
That knockdown was the difference on the card of judge Ed Garner, who scored Ngannou a 95-94 winner. Judges Juan Carlos Pelayo (96-93) and Alan Krebs (95-94) scored seven and six rounds for Fury, respectively.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.