Like so many of us, Eddie Hearn is still in shock over what he witnessed last night in Riyadh. Tyson Fury, taking on “no-hoper,” pro boxing debutant Francis Ngannou, in a fight that had been so heavily criticised for being both a mismatch and a money-grab, struggled mightily, with Fury surviving a knockdown, a torrid eighth round, a cut to his forehead, some bruising around his eye, and a whole lot of hurt to his fighting pride.
With the talked of unification showdown with Oleksandr Usyk now in some doubt (it will not be happening on December 23, as Frank Warren has confirmed), Fury’s future is also a mystery right now. Might it be that Fury even retires, for good this time (one look at Fury’s wife, Paris, and the look of pain on her face as she watched what was happening to her husband in the ring in Riyadh strongly suggested she would be calling, again, for Fury to retire)?
Anything seems possible at this stage.
But Eddie Hearn, speaking on his Matchroom channel, has put his opinion out there, and not surprisingly Hearn has laid into Fury. Hearn, who had Ngannou winning last night’s fight by two rounds, says his guy Anthony Joshua “will knock Tyson Fury out inside six rounds.” But will this fight happen? Most of us doubt it.
“I am absolutely lost for words,” Hearn said. “Francis Ngannou has never boxed before and fair play to him, I didn’t think he was overly impressive, but Tyson Fury looked like he’s never laced up a pair of boxing gloves before. He got dropped in the third round, he never threw a punch and Ngannou never threw a punch after. I thought Ngannou won by two rounds. The boxing world has gone mad. Forget Fury-Usyk, no-one is interested. Just give us Fury against AJ. AJ will knock Tyson Fury out inside six rounds. Make the fight, otherwise we’ll never get it.”
To my mind, there is no way Fury fights Joshua. Not a chance. If he does fight again, Fury will fight Usyk and then, win or lose, he will finally retire. But that’s just one opinion. What do YOU guys think? Or are you also still in shock over what you saw last night and are unable to think clearly!
