Tyson Fury floored by Francis Ngannou but wins controversial split decision

• Briton lucky to avoid huge shock in ‘Battle of the Baddest’
• Battering taken by Fury puts Oleksandr Usyk fight in jeopardy

A battered and relieved Tyson Fury was awarded a controversial split-decision win over the remarkable Francis Ngannou, who was making his boxing debut, in Riyadh. One judge believed that Ngannou, who knocked Fury down heavily in the third round, had won the fight 95-94. A second had the exact same score in Fury’s favour while the third official’s scorecard was a ridiculous 96-93 margin for the WBC world champion. In this 10 round non-title fight Ngannou dented and then tarnished the champion’s prestige by fighting with fire and purpose.

Fury was badly swollen around the left eye and the possibility of his heavily hyped fight for the undisputed world heavyweight title against Oleksandr Usyk happening on 23 December, as planned, is now in jeopardy. The Ukrainian, who holds the IBF, WBA and WBO titles, stepped into the ring afterward to meet Fury and to make clear his readiness to fight on the agreed date. Fury suggested he was ready to rumble right there and then, but before Usyk climbed between the ropes, he had sounded less certain. His promoter, Frank Warren, then stressed that they will have to think carefully as less than two months does not offer Fury much time to recover from his bruising encounter with Ngannou.

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