Lennox Lewis has sensationally claimed that he thought ‘Tyson Fury won’ his fight against Francis Ngannou, despite many in the boxing community stating the opposite, that the result should have gone to the MMA fighter.
Fury survived a big scare after going down in the third round of the fight, before finding his rhythm in the later rounds to ultimately win the bout via a split decision, with one judge awarding 95-94 to Ngannou, with the other two judges favouring Fury 96-93 and 95-94.
While many were left shocked by Fury’s performance, with the Gypsy King even stating ‘that wasn’t the script’, three-time heavyweight champion, Lewis, said otherwise, claiming that he thought the split decision was correct.
’I thought TF won,’ Lewis told TNT Sports. ‘He was throwing a lot of punches.
’He was getting that jab going, FN really surprised me – he showed really good poise, patience.
Tyson Fury defeated Francis Ngannou by a narrow split decision on Saturday night
While many fans claimed that Ngannou should have been awarded the victory, Lennox Lewis disagreed claiming he thought Fury was the victor
Ngannou had come out more aggressive in the opening rounds knocking Fury to the canvas
‘You could tell that he was waiting for that perfect opportunity and he threw a punch when TF was off balance.
‘The fundamentals weren’t there from him, he wasn’t 100 percent. This was like a warm up fight to the big fight for me.’
After the fight, he also took to X (formerly Twitter) to write: ‘The lion can’t let the shark come into the jungle and nearly beat him. Ngannou’s stock is up. Fury’s stock is down in a lacklustre win.’
After both fighters took their time working each other out in the first round, Ngannou came out aggressive in the second exchange, cutting Fury on the forehead with a big punch.
Fury looked a bit slow to start and the MMA star took his opportunity in the third round, countering on the WBC heavyweight champion with a brutal left hook that landed on Fury’s temple and knocked him to the canvas.
Lewis also took to X after the bout to state that ‘Fury’s stock is down in a lacklustre win’
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Fury was able to continue, seeing out the final moments of the round, before heading back in to his corner.
He came out still a little dazed, but found his rhythm, landing more shots on Ngannou as the fight went on.
Carl Frampton, who was also speaking on TNT Sports, disagreed with Lewis, claiming he as shocked at the Gypsy King’s performance.
‘I thought Ngannou won that fight. At times I could not believe what I was watching,’ Frampton said.
‘Francis came in to his first boxing match and was fighting the heavyweight champion of the world, how was he supposed to win?
‘But in my eyes he won. He boxed beautifully at times.’
And Chris Eubank Jr agreed, writing on X: ‘I thought Ngannou won the fight. It was close but he was the aggressor, landed heavier shots & scored a knockdown.
‘Fury deserved to lose after having so much trouble against a man who has never boxed before… too much time filming Netflix specials not enough time in the gym I’m guessing. Unlucky Francis.’
Fury is now set to go toe-to-toe with Oleksandr Usyk to unify the heavyweight belts and the fight could happen later this December.
Ngannou landed a huge left hook on Fury in the third round sending him to the floor but the WBC heavyweight champion came back to win
After going down, Fury found his rhythm towards the end of the fight but many agreed that Ngannou was the better fighter
The Ukrainian watched on as the Manchester-born fighter claimed victory, before meeting Fury after the bout and saying: ‘We’re back in this ring 23rd December.’
As for Fury, well he admitted that it definitely was not how he had pictured the fight going.
‘That definitely wasn’t in the script,’ he said to TNT Sports. ‘Francis is a hell of a fighter, a strong, great puncher.
‘I got caught round the back of the head,’ he said on the knock down. ‘I wasn’t hurt. I got up and got back to my boxing.”
He added: ‘I got the win and that’s how it was. You can see it here, ring rust. Fair play to Francis, he cut my head here. It was a good fight.’