Joe Rogan was left outraged by one particular scorecard following Francis Ngannou’s entertaining 10-round scrap with Tyson Fury in Riyadh.
Emanating from Kingdom Arena in the Saudi Arabian capital, Ngannou delivered a spellbinding performance against one of the greatest boxers in the sport today. Throughout the 30-minute affair, ‘The Predator’ stifled Fury’s offense, busting open the reigning WBC heavyweight champion and even knocking him down in the third round with a well-timed counter left hand.
Despite all his success, Ngannou fell short of scoring the upset, losing on two of the three judges’ scorecards. Judges Alan Krebs and Ed Garner scored it the same 95-94 with Krebs favoring Fury while Garner had it for Ngannou. But it was Juan Carlos Pelayo’s 96-93 score in favor of ‘The Gypsy King’ that had everyone doing a double take, including Rogan who shared his unfiltered frustration over the score.
“Francis Ngannou had never had a boxing match ever in his life, had zero boxing matches, but he was the UFC heavyweight champion, knocked down Tyson Fury in the third round, beat him up in the eighth round,” the longtime UFC commentator said on his ‘The Joe Rogan Experience‘ podcast alongside guest Elon Musk.
“Most people, including me, thought he should’ve won the decision – including most boxers, most boxing pundits. He lost by one point on one judge’s scorecard. He won on one judge’s scorecard, and another judge, who should go to jail, had it 96-93 for Tyson Fury, which is f*cking outrageous.”
Francis Ngannou Flips the Script
Francis Ngannou walked into the bout as a whopping +750 underdog, but by the time the tenth round rolled around, ‘The Predator’ had flipped the script and was listed as the live odds favorite.
“We thought (Fury) was going to run him over because he’s the boxing heavyweight champion,” Rogan continued. “‘There’s no way this guy can box with me.’ He even said at the beginning of the fight, ‘It’s time to go to school,’ and then Francis said at the end of the fight, ‘You are a sh*tty professor’” (h/t Yahoo! Sports).
Following Ngannou’s success in his squared circle debut, fight fans are already clamoring for the former UFC heavyweight champion to try and make a real run in the sweet science, many of them suggesting a fight against knockout artist and three-time Tyson Fury opponent Deontay Wilder.