“I don’t know – I think it was a show,” the Ukrainian said in a post-fight interview. “You will see the real fight on December 23rd.”
“Anyway, he fought a world MMA champion who can punch very hard. Maybe Tyson Fury didn’t take him seriously because Francis Ngannou is an MMA fighter.”
According to Usik, “The Gypsy King’s” fall in the third round was a big surprise that made him nervous.
“Yeah, of course the knockdown was a surprise to me. When I saw that, I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, Francis, watch it, please! Tyson, jab, jab, move, don’t just stand there!'”
The ten-round boxing match, which took place the day before in Riyadh, went the full distance and ended with the Briton winning by split decision with scores of 96-93, 95-94 and 94-95.The all-around heavyweight world title fight between Fury and Usik is scheduled for December 23 and will also take place in Saudi Arabia.