Few were expecting the boxing match between Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury to go the distance. It came as a shock to many when Ngannou showed such high-level technical competence in his first boxing match and that knockdown to Fury in the third round still feels like a figment of imagination.
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Ngannou lost a close, controversial split decision by one point to Fury at the end of the sanctioned ten round. But he proved, without a doubt, that he belongs at the top level of the heavyweight division. And the Cameroonian thinks he did so in adversarial conditions, as the cards were stacked against him.
Francis Ngannou alleges unfair treatment by officials in Fury fight
In a conversation with TMZ Sports, Francis Ngannou talked about his performance against Fury. While he felt he won the fight, what really stuck in his craw was that he wasn’t treated fairly. The Cameroonian said that upon rewatching the fight, he felt the cards were already stacked against him.
The first example to demonstrate this was an illegal elbow ‘The Gypsy King’ managed to land on him in the sixth round. This, to his surprise, drew no reaction from the referee, who could have penalized the lineal heavyweight champion, according to the rules of boxing.
“I went back and watched the fight again and… for some reason, I feel like everything was against me. And even the elbow which [was] around six or seven round, and the referee didn’t say anything about it,” Ngannou said.
However, this was not the only point where he felt there were double standards in how he was treated compared to his lineal heavyweight champion opponent. Ngannou also singled out the clinching and what the referee did about them as another example.
Francis Ngannou thinks the referee was inconsistent in breaking up clinches
The 37-year-old also revealed that he was told by the Athletic Commission prior to the fight that no clinching would be allowed during the fight. And this rule was enforced every time he initiated a clinch. However, the PFL fighter pointed out that when Fury was the one clinching, the referee did not break the clinch. This, for him, was another clear example of Fury being favored over him, which disappointed Ngannou.
“From the beginning, in the locker room, the commission, they said ‘no clinch’. So at the beginning when we were getting close to the clinch not even two seconds [later], there was a break. Then we get to the moment that Tyson Fury was the one initiating the clinch and there wasn’t that break anymore. So to be honest, I mean, I feel like I wasn’t fairly treated,” the former UFC heavyweight champion added.
Clearly, Ngannou is not happy with the way he was treated overall, from the conduct of the commission to the referees and judges. This is not surprising, given that boxing is perceived to be a beautiful sport but a dirty business. Do you agree with Ngannou that he was unfairly treated in the Fury fight? Tell us your opinion in the comments section below.
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Edited by
Abhishek Kumar Das