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Tyson Fury blames ‘ring rust’ after avoiding upset against Francis Ngannou.
Tyson Fury has refuted claims that he underestimated Francis Ngannou and maintains that his lack of energy on Saturday night in Saudi Arabia was partly his own fault.
Fury was felled by Ngannou in the third round, but he went on to defeat the MMA fighter by split decision, narrowly avoiding what would have been one of the greatest surprises in boxing history.
The WBC heavyweight champion was accused of not practicing hard enough for his crossover matchup with Ngannou. The champion is still undefeated going into his undisputed bout with Oleksandr Usyk next year.
However, Fury asserts that if he hadn’t sufficiently prepared for the fight, Ngannou—who was making his professional boxing debut—would have defeated him.
When asked by Boxing King Media if he underestimated Ngannou, Fury said: ‘No, no. You can’t take anything away from Francis Ngannou.
‘He was a good fighter, he gave me a very good fight and that was it.
‘I trained very well, I prepared very good, and I didn’t have any excuses or anything.
‘It’s boxing, some days you have good days, some days you don’t. You crack on and you continue.
‘Usually when the media say it’s a mismatch and it’s not worth watching and all that, usually you’re in for a tough night.
‘And if I didn’t train as hard as I did I probably wouldn’t have got through that fight.
‘He punches hard but it was a bit like a hook on the back of the head, the knockdown in round three, apart from that he didn’t really get me with much else.’
When asked about his own performance, Fury said: ‘I felt my timing was quite off.
‘I’ve been out of the ring nearly a year again, a little bit of ring rust.
‘It was what it was. It was far from one of my best performances, it wasn’t a vintage Tyson Fury but listen, you do what you’ve got to do in there and get through and on to the next one.
‘I don’t know about a bad night because that’s taking it away from Francis Ngannou’s performance, he did very well.
‘It’s boxing, you can’t be the best version of yourself every time, but it’s about keep going and on to the next one, which is Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed championship.’