Retired mixed martial artist Dan Hardy believes Francis Ngannou won his fight with Tyson Fury.
Emanating from Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia, the former UFC heavyweight champion returned to combat sports for the first time in nearly two years, stepping inside the boxing ring with ‘The Gypsy King’ Tyson Fury for a highly anticipated crossover clash.
What ensued is something nobody could have predicted with Ngannou largely controlling the contest, stifling Fury’s offense and even putting the WBC titleholder on the mat with a well-placed counter-left hand in the third round. Despite all of that, two of the three judges favored Fury, rewarding him with a fairly controversial split decision win.
Some things you have to see in order to believe the #Fury knockdown. pic.twitter.com/dmcGujJqaD
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“It is the biggest upset in boxing history even though he didn’t get the decision,” Hardy told Ariel Helwani during his appearance on The MMA Hour. “I had him winning the fight. I have my scorecard and I had him 96-93 because of the knockdown in the third and I stand by it. Ngannou certainly won the fight.
“It was an unfair decision, Francis deserved the victory and deserved the nod. But it was a close fight, no doubt about it. I was blown away and I still am. I think right now Ngannou is the king of combat sports, he is the biggest combat sport athlete because of what he achieved on the weekend.”
Hardy suggested that Tyson Fury went into the bout ill-prepared, expecting nothing more than a glorified sparring session before his title unification clash with Oleksandr Usyk.
“I think (Fury overlooking Ngannou) was a big part of it,” Hardy added. “It was a perfect storm on the night and that to me looked like Tyson Fury halfway through training camp expecting a sparring match ahead of the Oleksandr Usyk fight. I don’t think he looked at Ngannou with the same fear he would Deontay Wilder. After the third round Fury would’ve been thinking ‘I wish I prepared better for this, I wish I came in lighter.'”
Dan Hardy thinks Francis Ngannou won . pic.twitter.com/NROnbbysje
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Dan Hardy Likes the Idea of Francis Ngannou vs. Anthony Joshua
The biggest question following Ngannou’s impressive performance against Tyson Fury is, what comes next? Currently under contract with the PFL, many assumed ‘The Predator’ would go back to MMA once his check from the Saudi Arabian government cleared, but after nearly defeating the best boxer in the world today, could Ngannou put off his MMA return in favor of another turn inside the squared circle?
Hardy offered his thoughts on what could come next for Ngannou and, more importantly, who it could come against.
“I think we’ll see him fight in the Professional Fighters League and then see him move back into the boxing world and have another big fight,” Hardy said. “Who else in the top 10 can he give problems to? And the general consensus now is quite a few of them. The two that come to my head are Joe Joyce and Anthony Joshua.
“The Francis we saw against Tyson at the weekend would cause those two serious problems stylistically. I think he can have a career in boxing if he wants to and he’s going to be ranked soon so the door’s open for him. Wilder is an obvious opponent because it would be two of the biggest punchers on the planet. Wilder does not have the same finesse as Fury.”
He continued. “Honestly, Anthony Joshua is probably one of the better matchups for Ngannou out of all the heavyweights. I like the Joe Joyce idea because he boxes with a very technical amateur style where he places his shots, but his head is very much on the centerline. He doesn’t move it a lot, but Anthony Joshua, I just don’t know if he can regroup if he hits the canvas. Especially against a 0-1 boxer that’s still early in his career. I feel like it would unravel much quicker.”
Hardy also suggested that given his incredible work in both MMA and boxing, we could potentially see Francis Ngannou one day hold both the WBC world title and the PFL heavyweight championship simultaneously.
Watch the full interview below:
