Eddie Hearn believes Francis Ngannou beat Tyson Fury ‘by two rounds’ and confidently predicted Anthony Joshua would now defeat the Gypsy King ‘inside six rounds’.
Fury was sent to the canvas by former UFC fighter Ngannou, in his first professional boxing fight, before prevailing by split decision having gone the distance in Saudi Arabia.
One judge scored the contest 95-94 in favour of Ngannou, while the other two handed it to Fury 96-93 and 95-94.
But Hearn, commenting on the crossover fight from Matchroom’s boxing show in Cancun, Mexico, gave a scathing assessment of Fury and claimed his December heavyweight showdown with Oleksandr Usyk is dead.
‘I am absolutely lost for words. Francis Ngannou has never boxed before and fair play to him, I didn’t think he was overly impressive, but Tyson Fury looked like he’d never laced up a pair of gloves before,’ Hearn told Matchroom’s YouTube channel.
Tyson Fury was made to toil before beating ex-MMA fighter Francis Ngannou by split decision
Francis Ngannou sent Tyson Fury to the canvas with a thunderous left hook in round three
Matchroom supremo Eddie Hearn was scathing of Fury’s performance on Saturday night
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‘He got dropped in the third round, he never threw a punch and Ngannou never threw a punch after. I thought Ngannou won by two rounds. The boxing world has gone mad.
‘Forget Fury vs Usyk, no-one is interested. Just give us Fury against AJ. AJ will knock Tyson Fury out inside six rounds. Make the fight, otherwise we’ll never get it.
‘Or, just rematch Ngannou because the guy deserves to have one of the greatest wins. I don’t know what I was watching, I don’t know what Tyson Fury was doing.’
Joshua has twice lost to Usyk but still hasn’t faced Fury, who holds the WBC heavyweight belt. Hearn suggested Fury would struggle to beat his man and hinted Joshua would even take on Ngannou following his impressive boxing debut.
He said: ‘AJ beats Tyson Fury every day of the week and we’ve seen it again tonight. I think his punch resistance may have gone, there wasn’t even a huge left hook.
‘If they want to stitch Ngannou up and make the Fury vs Usyk fight, maybe AJ will fight him after he’s got the credibility of beating Tyson Fury. It will not go three rounds.
Hearn is confident that Anthony Joshua would knock Fury out ‘inside six rounds’ if they met
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk shake hands in the ring after the Gypsy King’s unconvincing split decision win over Ngannou
The cameras caught Usyk’s shocked reaction when Fury was knocked down in the third round
‘I’m buzzing because I believe we’ve still got the top dog. Usyk now is the No 1 in the division by a long way but I just hope we see Fury against AJ.
‘Listen, I think Tyson Fury’s great, ultra-talented and one of the best personalities in the game. His win against Klitschko was unbelievable. He beat Deontay Wilder – two serious wins.
‘In the last year-and-a-half, he’s beaten Dillian Whyte, who is faded, Derek Chisora and he’s lost to Francis Ngannou. Our man AJ is coming for him.’