Oleksandr Usyk admitted he was nervous when Tyson Fury hit the canvas from a Francis Ngannou blow on Saturday night.
The Ukrainian had every right to be, as Fury has since backed out of an initial contracted agreement for December 23. Fury needs more time to recover after being pummeled by Ngannou for ten rounds.
In an unexpected twist, Ngannou held his own against a mediocre Fury and should have gotten the decision on the cards. However, a split result robbed Ngannou of his greatest triumph.
Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, now says he’s pulled the plug on Fury facing Usyk in December. Usyk reacted by warning both Warren and Fury of the agreement.
“Uncle Frank says some sneaky things,” said Usyk to Boxing King Media. “We have a contract that states the fight must occur on December 23.
“Let Fury vacate his title first, then he can take his rest. Tyson, we must fight. We must do it on December 23. See you in the ring.”
Usyk admits nerves over Fury vs Ngannou
On ringside images of Usyk visibly wincing as Fury hit the floor, the WBA, WBO, and IBF heavyweight champion added: “I was nervous that our fight is in jeopardy.
“I even started to shout out to him some things like, ‘Use your jab, jab him faster.’ It looks weird, but the whole world wants to see this fight.
“That’s why we must do everything possible to make this fight happen.”
Meanwhile, Ngannou has earned himself a WBC title shot in a Fury rematch. The World Boxing Council will rank the former UFC star in the top fifteen due to him pushing Fury all the way.
“The Predator” is confident he can mix MMA and boxing in the future after revealing his excitement at putting Fury down.
“When we touched gloves, he said, ‘Let me take you to school.’ I was like, ‘You’re not taking me to school.’ That’s why when I knocked him down, I was dancing in front of him,
“You’re a bad professor. Who is taking who to school? [I said]’ It looks like I was taking him to school.
Boxing and MMA
“I can do both [MMA and boxing]. Nothing’s stopping me from doing both. If I have the skills for both of them, why not?
“I never intended to step over, do one fight, and go. That was never the plan.”
On losing his sole boxing match despite a great effort, Ngannou concluded: “I think it’s a shame for boxing. Those judges should be sanctioned.
“Those kinds of decisions mess up a lot of people’s careers. It’s not the first thing I’ve found in this boxing world. There’s a lot of s***ty stuff here, and we’ll point it out.
“I don’t care whatever anybody says and what they do here. I’m just going to expose that s***.”
