Teddy Atlas has given his take on Tyson Fury’s bout against Francis Ngannou by giving the victory to the WBC heavyweight champion.
The result divided many after Fury walked away with a split-decision win, despite Ngannou’s stellar performance, with some in the boxing community feeling the MMA fighter should have been victorious. As for Atlas, however, the former trainer gave the win to Fury based on the latter’s decision to box behind his jab after being knocked down in round three. Fury’s performance may not have set the world alight, but it did get the job done in order to keep the hopes of an undisputed bout with Oleksandr Usyk alive.
“My final score – 97-93 for Mr. Fury and like I said [in] my comments, lots of posturing, feinting, half jabs, lot of looking, could have been more even rounds possibly,” Atlas said
Despite this being the case, Atlas felt that the Gypsy King may have overlooked his opponent. Given that Fury was expected to win so easily, the prospect of an Usyk bout may have taken his focus away from the task at hand. Although that may have been the case, Fury denied doing anything of the sort by admitting that his training preparations were on point. But for Atlas, the trainer was not convinced by what he had seen.
“[Fury was] not unprepared physically but perhaps mentally. [Ngannou] was the puncher in this fight no doubt about it. Fury is a terrific fighter, a terrific boxer and everything else but he’s not the pure puncher,” Atlas