World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury beat combined martial arts fighter Francis Ngannou in a cut up choice after their boxing bout went the gap in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Ngannou knocked Fury down in spherical three however the 35-year-old British fighter, although shaken, was in a position to proceed.
The undefeated Fury, who earlier this week laughed off his opponent as a “big fat sausage”, afterwards acknowledged that the 37-year-old Cameroonian had successfully saved him off-balance.
“He’s a very awkward man, and he’s a good puncher and I respect him a lot,” Fury stated of Ngannou, including that it was “probably my toughest fight in 10 years”.
Fury was the overwhelming favorite towards boxing novice Ngannou.
“This was my first boxing match, great experience –- I’m not giving any excuse,” Ngannou stated in a ringside interview.
“I know I come up short, I’m going to come back and work harder… now I know I can do this.”
Fury got here out swinging within the first spherical with a tough proper hand however sustained a lower to the brow within the second spherical and appeared particularly sluggish after hitting the mat within the third.
The remaining rounds dragged as each males drained, neither in a position to land a decisive blow.
“I don’t know how close it was, but I got the win and that’s how it was,” Fury stated.
“Fair play to Francis, he cut my head here. It was a good fight.”
Fury’s WBC heavyweight belt was not on the road within the “Battle of the Baddest” within the capital Riyadh, however Saudi officers however hoped it will additional enhance the Gulf kingdom’s repute as a top-flight boxing vacation spot.
With all events determined to lend the competition some sporting legitimacy, the WBC had common a “Riyadh Champion” belt to permit the winner to strut across the ring on the finish with one thing apart from a fats pay cheque.
Fury has been linked with a £50 million ($60.6 million) payout from Sunday’s exhibition bout, whereas he has stated within the British press that Ngannou will earn £10 million.
Fury has a much more critical bout lined up in Riyadh in December towards the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, who at the moment holds the opposite three world titles.
“I’m going to go home, I’ve been in training camp for 12 weeks,” he stated on Sunday.
“I’ll take a long hard rest and see what’s next for us.”
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Saudi Arabia has hosted a collection of high-profile fights lately together with the 2019 “Clash on the Dunes”, through which Anthony Joshua reclaimed his world heavyweight crown from Andy Ruiz, and final 12 months’s “Rage on the Red Sea” in Jeddah, through which Joshua misplaced in a cut up choice to Usyk.
Saudi officers say there was a surge of home curiosity in boxing lately.
Their aim is to have 500,000 boxers within the kingdom by 2030 as a part of a broader sports activities push beneath Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reform agenda.
Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, now within the Saudi Pro League, and rappers Kanye West and Eminem have been available for Sunday’s occasion which marked the start of Riyadh Season, a four-month collection of concert events and sporting occasions supposed to make Saudi Arabia extra engaging to vacationers.
The festivities went forward regardless of considerations the Israel-Hamas warfare might pitch the broader area into turmoil.
Turki Al Sheikh, head of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority, this week dismissed criticism on social media at a time when different occasions within the area have been cancelled, saying on Facebook that “every Saudi, including myself, is busy with the development and renaissance of his country”.
The warfare got here up simply as soon as on Sunday, when heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov stated after his undercard win: “Victory to our brothers in Palestine!”
(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – AFP)
