Tyson Fury had presumed he was revelling in a lucrative cakewalk in Saudi Arabia until Francis Ngannou left the WBC heavyweight champion in dire straits and desperately staving off an historic upset.
This extravagant crossover fight was seen more as a gaudy spectacle than a genuine contest, but Ngannou emphatically dispelled that notion with a counter left hook in the third round that knocked Fury to the canvas. The Briton looked around the custom-built arena in Riyadh with a dazed expression and, although he made the referee’s count, Fury was clinging to his king’s ransom for dear life and the scorecards – 94-95, 96-93, 95-94 in his favour – were immediately greeted with cries of controversy.
It was an extraordinary scene on a surreal night, with a cavalcade of sporting icons and musicians including Cristiano Ronaldo, Conor McGregor, and the rap artists Kanye West and Eminem gathered at ringside. An extended opening ceremony strained hype and reason even by boxing’s warped standards and ensured the main event did not start until long after midnight, but the ten rounds that followed will be written both into boxing legend and infamy.
Ngannou is a former UFC heavyweight champion and was renowned for winning his fights early with explosive power, but the Cameroonian had never fought as a professional boxer and was an almighty underdog. Fury was seemingly beguiled by those odds too, sleeping in his dressing room in the hours before the fight, perhaps dreaming ahead to his undisputed heavyweight championship bout against Oleksandr Usyk scheduled for December 23 in Riyadh. His title had not been at stake, but the momentousness of that occasion has certainly been eclipsed and undermined, with Fury nursing cuts and bruises and confessing he now needs a “long, hard reset”.
“That definitely wasn’t in the script. He’s a lot better of a boxer than we thought he’d be,” Fury said. “He’s a very awkward man, and he’s a good puncher, and I respect him a lot. He was very awkward, he wasn’t coming forward, he was waiting for me to throw my punches then looking to counter. It’s a part of boxing [the knockdown], I got caught behind the head again. I got up and it was alright, I got back to my boxing.
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“I don’t know how close it was, but I got the win and that’s what it is. I’ve been out of the ring for a long time. You can see the ring rust. No excuses, though. He’s cut me across the eye. It was a good, rough fight. Perfect.”
Such an upset had been impossible to fathom, but the omens turned soon after the first bell. Ngannou was sharp and aggressive, countering Fury with thudding shots that earned his respect. Fury responded in kind with a strong right hand towards the end of the round, but his rhythm was laboured, switching stances in search of a solution to the unheeded danger. Ngannou’s tremendous strength helped negate Fury’s usual advantage in clinches too and he was buoyed by his start, stalking forwards and landing a left hook in the second round that forewarned of the drama to come.
“I felt Fury won, he threw a lot of punches but Ngannou surprised me,” the former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis said. “He showed poise and patience, waiting for that perfect opportunity.”
Ngannou’s hopes had been ascribed to a puncher’s chance but this was no fluke. Fury limped to the bell, the sense of shock lingering, and Ngannou backed him up against the ropes in the fourth round, winging in menacing punches just wide of the mark. The subtleties of his technique were lost in the excitement, though, and Fury used his nous to make the fight scrappy, landing stiff, scoring jabs between rough clinches.
Fury was back on the canvas in the sixth, although this time as a result of the pair’s wrestling, and the accidental elbow he landed in the seventh told of Ngannou’s enduring threat, still charging into range even as he visibly tired. The pair exchanged wild shots in the eighth, with Fury cautious but more polished, as Ngannou reserved energy between assaults. They were certainly the most eye-catching, but Fury was cunning with his activity and there was to be no grandstand finish. Fury looked grateful to see his dystopian nightmare end while Ngannou raised his arms in hope of an astonishing victory. The scores will be argued, but the 37-year-old accepted them admirably.
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“I am feeling great, fantastic. It didn’t go my way, I might be beaten, I might be wounded, but I can bite. We can run it back again, and I’m sure I’m gonna get better. This was my first boxing match, great experience,” Ngannou said. “I’m not gonna give any excuse, I know I came up short, but I’m gonna come back with a little more experience of the game.”
Ngannou will be seen as a victor even in defeat, but this bloody interlude will beckon questions of Fury. This was supposed to be a glorified exhibition, merely a sporting vehicle for another display of Saudi Arabia’s might. In the end, a charade that had left many disenchanted delivered a shock and so nearly an upset that will live long in the memory.