Francis Ngannou very nearly shocked the world when he faced Tyson Fury in October.
The former UFC heavyweight champion dropped the Brit on his professional boxing debut but lost via a split-decision from the judges.
It left many fight fans wondering if Fury had taken Ngannou lightly and Martin Bakole who regularly spars with ‘The Gypsy King’ has admitted Fury was not as focused as usual.
Speaking to IFL TV the heavyweight said: “To be honest, I was in Tyson Fury’s camp. If you watch my interview [at the event] when people are asking me, I was saying I will not be surprised to see Ngannou drop Tyson Fury, because to be honest, Tyson was not 100% focused in the gym. For me, my opinion is the signed contract with Usyk affected his mind for the Ngannou fight.”
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He went on to reveal that Fury may have cut corners in regards to his sparring.
He continued: “I’ve never seen Tyson training like that. He was doing four rounds, six rounds in the gym for sparring. Maybe he’s watching this and knows he wasn’t 100% focused That’s not the Tyson Fury I know when he was preparing for Klitschko, Chisora, and Dillian Whyte. This was different.”
