Tyson Fury scored a controversial split-decision win over Francis Ngannou on Saturday night in Saudi Arabia.
Ngannou very nearly pulled off the greatest upset in combat sport’s history but the judges awarded Tyson Fury a narrow win.
MORE HERE: 🚨 Mike Tyson’s immediate reaction to Francis Ngannou loss, doesn’t think it’s a robbery
Speaking to Boxing King Media, Fury was asked if he underestimated his opponent, he replied:
“You can’t take anything away from Francis Ngannou”
“He was a good fighter and he gave me a good fight and that was it. I trained very well, I prepared very well and I don’t have any excuses or anything.
“It’s boxing. Some days you have good days and some days you don’t, and you crack on and continue and keep moving forward.”
He continued: “Usually when you get the media saying, ‘It’s a mismatch and it’s not worth watching’ you’re in for a tough night.
“And if I didn’t train as hard as I did I wouldn’t have got through that fight.”
On the knockdown Fury continued:
“He punches hard but it was a hook in the back of the head, the knockdown in round three. Apart from that he didn’t get me with much else.”
On his own performance, Fury admitted: “I felt my timing was quite off. I’d been out of the ring for nearly a year again. It was 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 to get through and on to the next one.”
He continued: “I don’t know about bad night because that’s taking something away from Francis Ngannou’s performance. He did very well and that’s it really.
“It’s boxing. You can’t be the best version of yourself every time.”
