Punch stats reveal Tyson Fury WAS the deserved winner in controversial victory over boxing newbie Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia with the Gypsy King landing 12 more punches than his rival

Punch stats from the Tyson Fury versus Francis Ngannou fight have shed new light their hard-fought clash in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Ngannou entered the ring on Saturday night as a colossal underdog, faced with the daunting task of facing the WBC world heavyweight champion in his first professional outing as a boxer.

However despite the massive disparity in experience, the former UFC heavyweight champion defied all expectations producing a measured performance that saw him put Fury to the canvas in the third round.

Despite Ngannou’s successes, Fury would ultimately retain his undefeated record by split decision, though not without a number of fans taking to social media to claim the Cameroonian heavyweight was ‘robbed’ of the most unlikely of victories.

Discontent with the decision was not only limited to fans online however; former world champion boxer Carl Frampton stated he believed Ngannou had done enough to deserve the nod while Chris Eubank Jnr wrote ‘Fury deserved to lose’ in a post on X.

While Ngannou did enjoy arguably the most memorable moment of the fight, stats released after the decision show that Fury landed more punches over the course of the ten rounds.

According to Compubox, Fury landed 71 of his 223 total punches – almost one in three – while Ngannou managed to score with 59 from 231 attempted.

Fury also landed more punches than his opponent in six of ten rounds, with Ngannou being the more active fighter in the third, fourth and eighth rounds with round seven equal.

Though Fury did enjoy the edge in total punches landed, Ngannou landed more power punches than the lineal heavyweight champion, with 37 to Fury’s 32.

In the final round Ngannou even attempted a superman punch, a strike more commonly seen in MMA involving feinting a kick before jumping into a punch, drawing a bemused response from the team on commentary. 

Ngannou also claimed the very rare feat of knocking Fury to the canvas, with the Gyspy King hitting the deck in the third round – a round that unsurprisingly saw the Cameroonian-born ex-UFC star throw the most punches.