Saturday’s ten-round, non-title fight between WBC heavyweight champion and debuting former UFC kingpin Francis Ngannou always looked set to leave the sport of boxing with a black eye. Well, it certainly did that. Quite literally, given ‘The Gypsy King’ emerged with quite the shiner for his troubles.
But the crux of the problem with the fight was supposed to be its ceremonial nature. Saturday’s bout was expected to be a gaudy procession for Fury. A celebration of sporting largesse, as the best heavyweights boxing and MMA have to offer went through the motions for their slice of the Saudi millions. If that was the plan, nobody thought to clue Francis Ngannou in.
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You’ll have seen the footage by now. Ngannou not only surviving but thriving against the supposed best heavyweight on the planet. The clubbing left hook that sent Fury to the canvas for the seventh time in his career. But there was more to the performance than this flashpoint. Ngannou didn’t maraud, he boxed. ‘The Predator’ measured his work with outstanding patience and precision for a fighter having his first professional boxing contest.
Fury looked genuinely hurt at times and completely baffled at others. The master tactician wasn’t just outfought by Ngannou, he was outthought too. When Ngannou switched stances, it was to keep Fury off balance. When the Mancunian tried the same trick, it was because he’d run out of ideas. The clinches, the hand control as each man pawed out jabs, the ring generalship. Ngannou enjoyed periods of supremacy in each of these areas.
There is a solid argument to be made that Ngannou won the fight. But that outcome was never likely if the MMA superstar left it to the judges, who scored a split decision in Fury’s favour. The same Saudi regime who filled the coffers of the fighters is also funding Fury’s next bout. With the big money undisputed heavyweight title bout in the balance, Fury was always going to get the decision in Riyadh as long as he was still awake.
But what should have been a glitzy distraction actually taught us a lot about where Fury stands going into 2024. There was evidence around his soft middle that either he hadn’t taken the bout seriously, or the between-fight indulgences were beginning to take their toll at the age of 35. The great Ricky ‘Hitman’ Hatton endured similar struggles, declining as the weight he piled on between bouts became harder to shift in his thirties.
While the Ngannou victory was Fury at close to his worst, it has been a long time since we have truly seen his best. One ponders whether his remarkable 2021 war Deontay Wilder sapped the last true vestiges of his prime. That fight was an astonishing war you can hold up against any fight in heavyweight history. But a bout that brutal is always going to take its toll.
Since then we have seen Fury ease past Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora before the Ngannou fight. Tellingly, Fury retired initially after the Whyte match-up. At the time this was dismissed by many as a tactic, a way to try and tempt out challenges from Usyk and Anthony Joshua. But could Fury’s path since betray how genuine that retirement really was?
Certainly there were many eyebrows raised when Fury chose Chisora as his opponent last December. A fighter he had beaten twice before and who had lost three of his previous four contests. But could this tepid return from retirement have been a way to simply give the public what they wanted, which was more Tyson Fury? A risk-free, money-spinner that satisfied the public need for ‘The Gypsy King’.
The Ngannou fight, on paper at least, played into this as well. It kept the Usyk clash at arms length and delivered a scenario where Fury should have found it easy to look good. But the 35-year-old looked dreadful, being knocked down, bruised and cut by a boxing novice. The fact this wasn’t even remotely in the script is demonstrated by the fact promoter Frank Warren was keen to point out the Usyk fight will no longer take place in December. Tyson has corroborated this, meaning the wait goes on for the undisputed title showdown.
Fury’s chances of winning that must be slimmer now. This is a man who has perpetrated some of boxing’s greatest comebacks. But every fighter eventually goes to the well one too many times. Usyk would eviscerate the Fury who toiled in Riyadh on Saturday. Perhaps ‘The Big GK’ will find his best shape and form one last time when faced with a challenger he deems worthy, which the Ukrainian certainly is. Or perhaps Ngannou was supposed to be the latest step in prolonging Fury’s career. A retirement tour that started with Whyte could come to an end in Riyadh next year. Are we witnessing the end of days for Fury, or his greatest comeback yet?
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