Francis Ngannou believes he is the baddest man on the planet.
The former UFC heavyweight champion made his boxing debut against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury 34-0-1 (24) in a 10-round non-title fight at Boulevard Hall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
The 37-year-old Cameroonian was expected to be out of his depth against Britain’s Fury, 35, but that did not turn out to be the case. Ngannou boxed well above his station, dropping Fury in the third with a left hook high on the head and losing a razor-thin split decision by scores of 95-94, 94-95 and 93-96.
“Waking up today, I just remembered I’m the guy that just defeated the number one heavyweight boxer in the world,” Ngannou said in a video he posted to his social media channels. “And that I’m the damn man — even though I got robbed by those judges.
“Yes, I really believe I won that fight. I should’ve done better but still I won that fight. So keep it up. I keep my eyes on him and hopefully we’ll get a rematch. This time things are definitely going to be different.”
It wasn’t just the skillset of Ngannou that surprised both fans and pundits. Ngannou displayed a high boxing IQ, opting to counterpunch rather than lead for much of the fight and switching to southpaw to good effect.
For much of the bout Fury seemed confused by Ngannou, unable to figure out his next move or get him to fall into one of his traps.
“I was very aware of his speed and everything,” Ngannou said in a separate video on his YouTube channel. “Kept my guard up. I do respect his skills, I respect his power, I respect his everything, but I wanted to impose myself and I kept imposing my style.
“One thing that happened, southpaw. I switched southpaw. The first time as soon as I switched, he did the same. But he wasn’t that confident. His jab from the southpaw wasn’t [proficient] at all.
“It was easy for me to slip and move left and get this angle, where he was very exposed. So, I realised that and I was using that a lot. At some point in the fight, even when I wanted him to give him space, I was switching to southpaw but not to [stand and fight].
“My southpaw [stance] was making him work, thinking, like, ‘what do I do?’. I’m more [proficient] in southpaw than him. My left hand go faster and good.
“I didn’t land because, I think, my footwork wasn’t sharp at that moment. I wasn’t bringing up back feet with me, so my back hand was coming up short. But it was fast and that’s how I was able to get [into] the fight.”
