Mixed martial arts fighter Francis Ngannou has reacted to his defeat to heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury, saying he schooled Fury in the game of boxing.
Fury and Ngannou clashed in a non-title fight in Saudi Arabia on Sunday that almost delivered one of boxing's biggest upsets.
Fury, the unbeaten holder of one of boxing's most prestigious belts, narrowly avoided a first defeat at the hands of a 37-year-old opponent who had never boxed professionally before but went through the full 10 rounds with great strength.
The Cameroonian knocked Fury to the canvas in round three with a left hook, and although Fury was able to get to the end of the round, he admitted the knockout was unexpected.
Unexpected fight
‘’When the fight started, when we touched gloves, he said, 'let me take you to school' and so when I knocked him down, I said, 'who is taken who to school?' Nganou said in a post-bout video posted on X.
"That definitely wasn’t in the script. He’s given me one of my toughest fights of the last 10 years," said Fury after two of the judges gave him the win, 96-93 and 95-94. The third judge scored it 95-94 in favour of Ngannou.
Reactions have come from across the sporting world after the fight with fomer heavyweight champion Mike Tyson commending Ngannou for his performance.
“The true champ of the evening @francis_ngannou So proud how you performed,” he wrote on X.
More reactions
Nigerian-born mix martial arts Israel Adesanya has also praised Ngannou saying went ''against all odds and coming out on top.''
Fury said there was no rematch clause, but he would like to fight Ngannou again "down the line" and after a title fight with Ukraine's IBF, IBO, WBO, and WBA champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Ngannou has indicated his strong interest in taking on more professional boxing challenges.
"My training camp was only three and a half months, and I came into this with an injury. But I don’t want to give excuses. I will look at what I can do next to improve my game and come back even better," Ngannou said.
