Despite all the complaining about Fury vs. Ngannou it turned out to be a great fight, with a deservedly close decision that went pretty much exactly as I scored it: 95-94 for Fury with a super-close last round that was probably the most boring round of the fight, unfortunately.
But anyone who dismissed the fight as a "money fight" or compared it to a Jake Paul fight missed a very skilled bout. Ngannou surprised everyone, Fury and myself included, with his skill at traditional boxing. Coming from MMA—a sport whose boxing cred isn't exactly very high—most thought he had only a puncher's chance. And it's true, the cards were only as close as they were because of a 3rd round knockdown by Ngannou. But for the entire fight, he showed skill and patience boxing like a boxer, not an MMA star.
The dumbest thing people were saying was that Ngannou would be "slow." Anyone who has seen him fight MMA knows he is not slow at all, his hand speed is fantastic and his defensive reactions are super-fast, especially for his size. It seems that slow-speed pad work shown in training videos was the point of reference for his alleged "slowness."
People were also very wrong in assuming Fury would knock out Ngannou, without knowing anything about his MMA career. Ngannou always had a solid chin, and a great ability to dodge punches. His weakness in MMA was grappling, not getting hit. The main real weakness for Ngannou was his gas tank, as most of his fights are fairly short and he's pretty over-muscled. In the fight there were times he slowed down, but he was able to recover and looked sharp in the later rounds as adrenaline probably took over by then.
And from all corners, Fury was greatly overestimated as a boxer. For some reason, this same guy who was ridiculed for his lack of skill 10 years ago is suddenly the next Muhammad Ali in popular estimation. Let's face it, Fury isn't an all-time great technician. He may be an all-time great, but it's the fact that he's so skilled for his giant size, not that he has half the talent of a Muhammad Ali or even an Oleksander Usyk.
People also conveniently forgot that Fury has a very questionable chin. The recovery from Wilder's punches are the main point of reference, as he's the only one to not succumb to a Wilder KO. But he's been knocked down or stunned by numerous fighters, even former cruiserweight Steve Cunningham. It wasn't hard to imagine Ngannou doing the same.
And about Wilder: wasn't everyone in agreement after the first Fury fight that, and I paraphrase: Wilder has no boxing skill at all, he's just a power puncher, and he can't do anything other than land the big right hand. With that information, shouldn't Ngannou be able to fight Tyson Fury to a draw as well?
All of this ended up being true. But in no way did I expect a tight decision in this fight. I figured Fury would have the most trouble in the first three rounds when Ngannou was fresh and fast with his looping punches (this came true). Then in the next three rounds Fury would start to take control (also happened). Then over the last four rounds, Fury would make Ngannou look like a punching bag as Ngannou tired and was unable to muster much offense. The last part didn't happen, as Ngannou kept his form, didn't tire much, and had some good rounds that put the outcome in doubt.
The big difference was Ngannou's boxing skill. That's how he avoided fading down the stretch and kept himself in the fight. Fury was unable to use his skill to just take over the fight because Ngannou showed good defensive skills. And enough offensive skill—other than the big punch threat—to keep Fury from getting in rhythm.
It's too bad Ngannou didn't get the split draw. As it is, in our system, Ngannou will still be a nobody with no wins or draws against registered fighters. It's as if this fight never happened. Fury will remain at #1 and won't lose any points.
If Ngannou had gotten the draw, Fury would have remained #1 but lost about half his advantage over #2 Usyk, and Ngannou would have made his debut at #3 at 0-0-1, well behind Usyk but ahead of everyone else including Anthony Joshua (#6) and Deontay Wilder (#10).
So it looks like the boxing world owes Francis Ngannou an apology—as does the MMA world—for thinking this fight would be a joke, a sure KO loss for Ngannou.
But I suspect the new narrative will be that Fury "sucks" because he couldn't dominate a guy with a 0-0 record. That's the internet for ya.
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