Oleksandr Usyk and his promoter Alexander Krassyuk sat in amazement as Tyson Fury struggled with boxing debutant Francis Ngannou just over two weeks ago.
The former UFC heavyweight champion took on the current WBC heavyweight world champion in a ten round boxing match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. To everyone’s shock, Fury hit the canvass in the third round. He did recover to score a split-decision win, which has split opinion.
Ngannou’s performance has disrupted an undisputed heavyweight title fight between Usyk and Fury scheduled for December 23. Ngannou has received rave-reviews for his battle in the Middle East, with Usyk now appearing as the favourite in a future fight with Fury.
“He looked good.” Krassyuk said in exclusive interview for ProBox TV regarding Ngannou’s debut. “Boxing-wise, with all due respect, he hasn’t got the best boxing skills or boxing IQ, but his determination and his concentration was very good. He was very motivated and very focused, very disciplined! That’s what made him look like that. He didn’t have much tactics, but his tactics were sufficient to make Tyson look a little bit stupid fighting a guy having his pro debut in boxing. I heard many rumours that Tyson Fury was getting himself prepared to his very best. But, when you look at someones body, you can tell if he trained or whether he was chilling in the gym. It doesn’t matter how eat or how much you sleep, but if you do it consistently over a couple of months, you can definitely see it on his body.
“Remember when Andy Ruiz knocked Joshua out, he also didn’t look fit but when he started to train you immediately notice it on his body. Even though he still has fat on his body, his movements were sharp, he was concentrated and his reactions were better. Tyson Fury did not have that sense of distance against Ngannou, any trainer will tell you that this is the first sign that the fighter did not do any sparring, if they don’t have that sense of distance when they are trying to punch someone. He just couldn’t find the distance to hit his opponent. He was trying, it was either too far or too close. He couldn’t use his jab. The worst thing about Tyson Fury is that he doesn’t know how to deal with a southpaw. That is the worst thing about him fighting Usyk, he doesn’t know the concept. He doesn’t know when to step in and out of his attacks. Just a normal technical mistake, he has done it a lot. He tries to switch to southpaw himself to give himself an advantage. Everytime he tried this against Ngannou, he was punished.”
