Adesanya Wary Of Boxing Judges
Israel Adesanya was as impressed as the rest of us at Francis Ngannou nearly pulling off the upset of a lifetime.
The two-time UFC middleweight champion had front row seats for Ngannou’s boxing debut against Tyson Fury, having been part of Ngannou’s walk to the ring in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. That meant he was close enough to feel the ripples of Ngannou’s third-round knockdown of Fury, not to mention the rest of his friend’s valiant performance that ended in Fury winning a narrow split decision.
Two of the judges scored the fight for Fury, with one giving Ngannou a 95-94 score, meaning that the former UFC heavyweight champion was just a point or two away from upsetting boxing’s lineal heavyweight champion.
Several of the rounds may have been tossups by the strictest definition of scoring. But as far as vibes go, Adesanya knows who he thinks won the fight.
“I thought [Ngannou] won, but I was just like, it’s a close fight, but I felt if you were in the arena, if you were watching, when you watch a fight you know who won,” Adesanya said.
“You just know who won. I wasn’t really scoring the fight, you know—even them two, they know. You know who wins a fight, because you’re in there with that person, and those who are watching you.
“But then I was very wary of the judges, I just knew boxing gonna boxing. Not saying MMA doesn’t have it as well, but imagine … I’ve been there before, I can relate, so I just knew. I wasn’t confident in the judges, because I knew for a guy with zero boxing fights to come in there in his debut boxing fight, not even as an amateur, and beat the reigning lineal champion, the bureaucrats in boxing would not like that.”
Currently, Adesanya is on a self-imposed hiatus from competition after losing the UFC middleweight title in a one-sided decision loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 this past September. It’s not clear when “The Last Stylebender” will return, given that he’s taking a much-needed break after facing elite competition for the past few years.
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