Boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. has served as the voice of reason in the aftermath of Tyson Fury’s highly-debated split decision win over Francis Ngnanou.
Fury vs. Ngannou headlined a boxing spectacle in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this past Saturday night (October 28). Fans were in for quite the surprise when Ngannou not only knocked the lineal boxing heavyweight champion down, but gave him all he could handle for 10 rounds. In the end, Fury barely scraped by with a split decision victory, but some have already written off “The Gyspy King” for his planned title unification showdown with Oleksandr Usyk.
Jones is telling people to pump the brakes.
Roy Jones Jr. Shares Why He Feels Tyson Fury Struggled
SecondsOut got a chance to speak with Roy Jones Jr. following the Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou matchup. Jones gave his honest take on why “The Gypsy King” struggled against “The Predator.”
“Tyson Fury prepared as though he was fighting an MMA fighter who has no boxing experience,” Jones said. “He didn’t come out there prepared to fight an Usyk-type guy or a guy like Ngannou who had everything to gain and nothing to lose. Tyson had everything to lose and nothing to gain, and guess what happened? He lost ’cause even in winning, he lost ’cause he didn’t look good. He had everything to lose, nothing in it to gain.”
Jones went on to say that fight fans shouldn’t jump the shark after this fight, however. He believes Fury will bounce back with a vintage performance.
“His head is where it always is,” Jones said. “When he has a bad performance, he comes back and makes up for it with a beautiful performance. So, if they think that means that Usyk’s gonna beat him, they got another thought coming. That don’t mean that. He didn’t prepare like he was preparing to fight Oleksandr Usyk. He prepared like he was fighting a guy who has no experience in boxing.”
Here is SecondsOut’s full interview with Roy Jones Jr.: