Francis Ngannou truly believes he deserved the win on Saturday against Tyson Fury, with Fury of course escaping with a debated split decision over 10 rounds, a surprising fight for everyone, it seems, other than Ngannou.
In a post-fight chat on his YouTube channel, Ngannou also revealed what Fury said to him during their face-off in the ring.
“When we touched gloves, he’s, like, ‘Let me take you to school.’ I’m, like, ‘You motherfucker, you are not taking me to school.’ That’s why when I knocked him down I was dancing, like, ‘You’re a bad professor, motherfucker. You’re a bad professor. How is that school going? Who is taking who to school?’”
Ngannou went deep into his thoughts on the decision, saying it doesn’t really bother him personally, but that he thinks it’s bad for boxing — which he says he’s learning quickly is a “shitty” business.
“I’m confident that I won that fight. I wasn’t surprised by what happened. I knew it would have happened,” he said.
“Listen, man, I’m learning this game. I just moved from another sport to come here, and there is a structure, solely business, established business, and you just come to rock that. Imagine if I would have walked out of there with him being defeated for the first time. How would that look for them? How would that look for all the people associated with this business? I knew this wasn’t going to happen. But I think it’s a shame for boxing. Judges or whoever, they should be sanctioned.
“I want to understand why those judges judged like that. For me, to be honest, I don’t care that much about that decision, but I think those kinds of decisions mess up a lot of peoples career. This win could have been a win that my career depended on. I went out there, I busted my ass for the victory, I did my job, and then it didn’t happen.
“Again, I don’t care that much, but I think for the justice those judges should be accountable. It’s not the first thing I found out in this boxing world — it’s kind of, like, shitty. There’s a lot of shitty stuff here that we’re going to point out. I don’t care whatever anybody says or what they do here, I’m just going to kick into that nest and expose that shit.”
More from Ngannou:
On his performance
“Regardless of the decision, personally I’m satisfied about my performance. I know I could have done better, and I will go back, get prepared to do better. But I really believe that I didn’t come up short in this fight. I believe I stood toe-to-toe with the No. 1 boxer in the world in my first match, and basically won the fight.”
On the knockdown
“The knockdown was a defense hook. He threw a 1-2, then I blocked, then he threw 1-2 again — I was just going to clip with the hook, but that hook went over and clipped him on his head. But it was just instinctive, like a defensive punch. I’m going to counter the attack.”
On Fury not being able to clinch effectively
“The clinch wasn’t working good for him. He tried it at some points, and I was really pushing and defending it. I think at some point I even pushed him to the floor, like, ‘OK, keep doing that,’ and he was trying to complain.”
On the Superman punch
“I had that energy. I don’t want to go home with energy. Let’s just use it and see if you can land. … We practiced that Superman punch in the locker room. It’s not illegal. It might not be approved, but it’s not illegal. It’s the same as throwing a Mike Tyson hook, step and jump from your two feet. I’m, like, ‘Fuck, it’s not illegal.’ And when I landed somebody from his corner complained. But I was focused on the referee and it was a legal punch.”
On what’s next
“I have no preference. I think Tyson is going to fight Oleksandr Usyk. I don’t know when, exactly. I don’t know when we’ll be able to do the rematch, but I do believe we’re going to run this back. In the meantime, I still have some enemies to fight. I might go to PFL, fight, and come back (to boxing). We’re gonna meet here sometime soon. It’s been almost two years since I last competed, so I think I should be back in maybe five to six months, fight twice next year.”
“I do have excitement for boxing after last night. I’m very excited. Even though I believed before that I can do it, now I know I can do it.”