Tyson Fury has come out to say “blame me” for what admitted was a “below par performance” from the WBC heavyweight champion of the world against MMA fighter, Francis Ngannou, who knocked the pro boxer down and who many feel deserved to win the match.
Fury faced former UFC fighter Ngannou, who had no previous orthodox boxing experience prior to the cross-discipline bout, on Sunday night and despite emerging victorious following a split decision, has sparked controversy across the fighting world, with many claiming the result was ‘rigged’.
Ngannou, 37, managed to deck ‘The Gypsy King’ in the third round and, in many viewers eyes, was the more dominant and aggressive of the two fighters on the night, but the judges still ruled 96-93 and 95-94 in Fury’s favour, with only the third judge scoring the Cameroonian-Frenchman ahead by 95-94.
While the fallout from the fight is still simmering — Mike Tyson, Carl Froch, Chris Eubank, Eddie Hearn, Ngannou himself and many more insisting that he should have won — a couple of days on from the fight, Fury has now come out to shed some light on how it went down, admitting he wasn’t at his best.
"BLAME ME IF YOU'RE GONNA BLAME ANYBODY"
Full interview with @Tyson_Fury now LIVE on our YouTube channel ‼️
Tyson Fury says ‘blame me’ for the knockdown and a sub-par performance in the ring.
Speaking to iFL TV ahead of flying home from the equally controversial fight venue in Saudi Arabia, the 35-year-old from Wythenshawe argued that although he believes there’s no one to blame for the fight not necessarily going according to plan, if blame has to be placed on anyone it should be him.
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“It wasn’t the best performance but I’m not going to make any excuses, said Fury. “I had a good camp… It was a tough fight, I had to get off the floor to win… yeah, it was a below-par performance but take nothing away from the other man. You’re only as good as your opponent will let you be and that’s a fact”.
Despite having compared the match-up against the former UFC champion to being “like a table tennis champion facing Djokovic in the Wimbledon final” (something Ngannou was quick to mock his opponent with shortly after), the MMA specialist gave him a tougher fight than many expected.
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Insisting that he “didn’t train for a fight like that”, Fury went on to add, “There’s no ‘who to blame’ — blame me. There’s no ‘blame the trainer’, ‘blame the manager’, ‘blame the cutman’; blame me if you’re gonna blame anybody. It was what it was — it’s the fight game, not tap dancing.
🔹The rules of boxing state that the count starts, only when the ref starts counting. 🔹Tyson Fury did beat the count. 🔹However it was poor officiating and the seven seconds taken to start the count, definitely helped Tyson Fury. 🔹The odds were stacked against Ngannou. https://t.co/I7mUOUmXRz
Detailing exactly why the ex-UFC fighter was difficult to deal with, the Manc boxing icon described Ngannou’s style as “a lot more awkward than [he] thought he was going to be”, refusing to “walk on” to more of the traditional shots you would expect from someone who hasn’t typically trained as a boxer.
He also explained the knockdown as a result of him “being greedy” and wanting to get in an extra hit after a one-two which simply resulted in his opponent catching him on the way out. While many fight fans will continue to argue the final decision was incorrect, the official CompuBox punch stats did seem to reveal that Fury landed more hits and that Ngannou simply landed a few extra power shots.
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Ultimately, Fury did concede that he “was good at what he was doing”, adding, “Fair play to him… he gave me a better fight than all the boxers did in the last 10 years”. Some pretty high praise.
Featured Image — iFL TV (via YouTube)/Francis Ngannou (via Twitter)
Sport
Micah Richards reveals dad ‘unexpectedly’ died shortly before going on air for England v Argentina last night
Emily Sergeant
Micah Richards has revealed that his dad died shortly before he went on air for the World Cup semi final last night.
The former right back – who most-notably played for Manchester City for a decade from 2005-2015, and for the England national team from 2006-2012 – was one of the BBC’s pundits providing on-air analysis last night as England faced Argentina in a highly anticipated semi final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup last night.
The two teams faced off in Atlanta, and while goals came from both sides, it was ultimately Argentina that reigned supreme – securing a 2-1 win over the Three Lions.
But while much of the country is grieving the fact that football won’t be ‘coming home’ (well, for another two years at least), Richards is grieving on a deeper level.
He took to Instagram after the loss last night to share with his 1.4m followers that shortly before he went on air, his father Lincoln passed away ‘unexpectedly’ – calling him the ‘proudest parent possible’ in a touching tribute.
“He has left us all too soon,” Richards began in his tribute.
“Hwas my greatest fan. He barely missed a game my entire life. He would take me wherever I needed to go when I was a kid and he was the proudest parent possible during my professional career. It was so rare for him to not be by my side.
“I know how much watching England World Cup games means to everyone at home, and how the experience bonds families together across the generations, like nothing else.
“I know, particularly as a proud old-school Yorkshireman, dad would’ve wanted the show to go on this evening. And so it did.”
Argentina facing disciplinary action for controversial banner after beating England
Danny Jones
In the aftermath of England crashing out of the 2026 World Cup following their defeat in the semi-final, their opponents Argentina look set to face disciplinary action for a controversial flag held up in the wake of beating their old enemies.
For anyone who quickly turned off the telly after the Three Lions‘ 2-1 defeat and might have missed it, the Argentinian national squad waved a makeshift sign which read: “Las Malvinas son Argentinas.”
In English, this translates to “The Falklands are Argentine.”
Referring to the historic conflict between the two countries, which took place more than four decades ago, the statement has been described as inflammatory by some, with No. 10 Downing Street having issued an official response as the team now reportedly risks punishment by FIFA.
Multiple major outlets now believe that a financial penalty at the very least is expected to be passed down for the divisive political message.
As noted by the BBC above, this is by no means the first time this has happened, and perceived ‘tragedy chanting’ among other problematic behaviour from both fan bases has been a recurring issue whenever the two sides have played since.
To put things into context, the Falklands War, which lasted for 74 days, led to the deaths of 655 Argentine and 255 British servicemen, with three civilians on the islands also losing their lives.
As such, there is still plenty of bad blood between the South American country and Great Britain, with members of the nation’s leading party even weighing in with provocative and rather public posts on social media ahead of the game.
Vice President Victoria Villarruel has been among the most vocal online.
Jogadores argentinos mostram bandeira com a frase “As Malvinas são nossas”.
The reaction from the UK government was direct, too, with business secretary Peter Kyle telling Sky News: “I had left and gone to bed before the banner came onto the pitch, but I saw the images this morning, and of course, it’s entirely inappropriate.
“Politics should stay away from football. That is a very clear principle of the World Cup, but any consequences that come from that are now a decision for FIFA.”
Speaking to the BBC, he went on to add: “We expect FIFA to undertake an investigation into this. I think it was certain to happen because it was such an egregious violation of the rules of not having political activity as part of football.”
It’s also worth noting that Argentina have prior form for this kind of display.
Will Argentina be punished for holding up the Falklands banner?
After winning 2-1 over England, the players took a banner from their supporters, which said in Spanish: "The Falkland Islands are Argentinian."
The predicted outcome looks more than likely, with FIFA having previously fined £20,000 for a similar stunt before a friendly against Slovenia back in 2014.
‘La Albiceleste’ and their fellow compatriots won’t care one bit, of course, as they’re now into another World Cup final and could join Brazil, Italy and France in becoming back-to-back global champions.
Meanwhile, plenty have criticised Thomas Tuchel‘s change in tactics and substitutions as England went more defensive after going a goal up, and the post-mortem from his first run as manager will no doubt continue in the coming days; whether he makes it consecutive tournaments or not, we’ll wait and see.
If you can bring yourself to watch it back, you can watch the highlights along with the extended post-match reaction in full down below.
Danny Jones -
30th October 2023 
