Gathering of Legends At Ngannou’s Show
The former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, has shown that he can box by his performance against Tyson Fury in Riyadh Saturday night.
His skills did not show until round three when his stray hook brought down the Gypsy King to set the match on a fresh tone.
Fury realised quickly that Ngannou has not come to play but to create an upset. He changed his movement and would not be closer to the hard punching Cameroonian anymore.
Kudos to Mike Tyson, Ngannou’s trainer, for bringing up a rookie to such a world class performance. A few other legends who attended the match will not mind to want to train Ngannou.
The former UFC champion has got the potential to rule the boxing world if he can increase his hands speed and develop more skills as an infighter.
He showed these flashes of skill in round eight with three, four combinations that landed perfectly on Fury.
Of course Ngannou’s two rounds victory in three and eight were enough to earn him one of the judge’s decision 95-94 while Fury’s Tik-Tok jabs gave him 96-93 and 95-94 in two of the judge’s scorecards to win the split decision.
The battle of the baddest men on the planet reveals to us a stable and fit Ngannou. He is a confident, tactical and smart boxer who has learnt so much within a short time.
It also tells us about a rusty Fury that is speedily losing his steam for lack of many fights recently. It will be difficult for him to land his punches on a mobile boxer like Oleksandr Usyk who was at the ring side to see this probable opponent.
Both of them will go back home to watch their performances and perhaps renew the hostility by signing a contract for another fight. A second fight will be better because both had now known each other and will come straight to do the job without being too careful.
What made the Fury/Ngannou’s match more interesting is not really its crossover appearance but the hype and the characters, which of course lured the legends of boxing to the arena.
The legends include Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, Oleksandr Usyk and Sugar Ray Leonard. They nodded their heads as the crown hailed Francis.
Not a bad match
