Tyson Fury floored by Francis Ngannou but wins controversial split decision

Briton lucky to avoid huge shock in ‘Battle of the Baddest’Battering taken by Fury puts Oleksandr Usyk fight in jeopardyA battered and relieved Tyson Fury was awarded a controversial split-decision win over the remarkable Francis Ngannou, who was making his boxing debut, in Riyadh. One judge believed that Ngannou, who knocked Fury down heavily in the third round, had won the fight 95-94. A second had the exact same score in Fury’s favour while the third official’s card returned a 96-93 margin for the WBC world heavyweight champion. In this 10 round non-title fight Ngannou dented and then tarnished the champion’s prestige by fighting with fire and purpose.Fury was badly swollen around the left eye and the possibility of his heavily hyped fight for the undisputed world title against Oleksandr Usyk happening on 23 December, as planned, is now in jeopardy. The Ukrainian, who holds the IBF, WBA and WBO titles, stepped into the ring afterwards to meet Fury and to make clear his readiness to