Tyson Fury believes “ring rust” played a part in his lackluster performance against Francis Ngannou

Lineal heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury believes ring rust played a big role in his performance against Francis Ngannou.

Last weekend, Tyson Fury defeated Francis Ngannou via split decision in their boxing showdown in Saudi Arabia. However, that doesn’t even come close to telling the full story. ‘The Gypsy King’ was dropped by ‘The Predator’ in the third round, with many believing that Ngannou did enough to get the nod on the scorecards. In the end, though, it simply wasn’t meant to be for the former UFC champion.

RELATED: TYSON FURY DEFEATS FRANCIS NGANNOU BY SPLIT DECISION (HIGHLIGHTS)

As you can imagine, the stock of Fury has dropped quite a bit as a result of this performance. In an interview he took part in after the fight, Fury tried to explain what happened.

Fury explains performance against Ngannou

“I felt my timing was quite off,” Fury said. “I’ve been out of the ring for nearly a year – a little bit of ring rust, but it was what it was. It was far from one of my best performances. It wasn’t a vintage Tyson Fury, but listen, you do what you have to do to get through and on to the next one.”

“He punches hard, but it was a bit like a hunk on the back of the head in that knockdown in Round 3. Apart from that, he didn’t really get me with much else,” Fury said.

“You can’t take anything away from Francis Ngannou,” Fury said. “He’s a good fighter and gave me a good fight, and that was it. I trained very well. I prepared very good, and I don’t have any excuses or anything. Some days you have good days, some days you don’t. You crack on and you continue moving forward.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

What do you think of Tyson Fury’s comments? Let us know, BJPENN Nation!