Francis Ngannou nearly shocked the world and the lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in their highly-anticipated boxing match Saturday. The former UFC heavyweight champion turned boxer lost to the top heavyweight in the world by split-decision (95-94 Ngannou, 96-93 Fury, 95-94 Fury) in a boxing vs MMA crossover match.
The decision stunned the crowd and many watching online who thought Ngannou had the edge in what ended up being a razor thin fight on the scorecards.
Ngannou had +950 odds at FanDuel when lines closed for their 10-round non title fight, while Fury was -1400. Ngannou scored a massive knockdown in Round 3 that had Fury looking for answers.
Unlike previous MMA fighter vs. boxer matchups, Ngannou was uniquely qualified to stand toe-to-toe with a top tier boxer. The former UFC star was well-known for his striking inside the octagon and showed he had the power to drop a fighter as skilled as Fury.
According to CompuBox, Ngannou out-landed Fury 37-32 in power shots, but Fury had the edge in total punches landed 71-59. In the final two rounds, though, Ngannou began to run out of gas and landed just 6-of-38 punches down the stretch.
