Tyson Fury labelled an ‘underdog’ for Oleksandr Usyk bout as Ricky Hatton delivers fight verdict

Fury was expected to steamroll past Ngannou to set up his undisputed bout with Oleksandr Usyk for the end of this year, but this is not how the major crossover bout panned out.

‘The Gypsy King’ clearly took the former UFC heavyweight champion lightly and did not have the best preparation for this bout in Saudi Arabia as he was far from his best.

Ngannou shocked the world on the night and knocked Fury down in round three. The 37-year-old tired during the latter rounds but despite many onlookers having him up on the cards, the Brit was ruled the winner via split decision.

The scorecards sparred Fury’s blushes on the night, but his reputation has been hampered by his alarming performance against Ngannou.

Fury is now set to have a couple of months off to recover before facing Usyk in February or March.

Ngannou meanwhile is being tipped to battle Derek Chisora next and he could rematch Fury towards the end of next year. Hatton thinks their first fight “could have gone either way”.

“A lot of people are saying that it could’ve gone either way,” Hatton said in an interview with Boxing King Media.

“Yeah, it could’ve gone either way, but I think Tyson just, just, just did enough. It’s one of them.”

Hatton added: “[The Ngannou fight] was a bit of a banana skin for Tyson – he’s on a good hiding to nothing.

“Should he have [taken] it with that Usyk fight in front of him? I don’t know. He got cut didn’t he, and we don’t know if that’s gonna set things back now.

“But the main thing is my mate won, but I think we all expected him to win a little bit better than that … Tyson didn’t look at it tonight to be honest with you, but it made it a good fight.”

Chris Eubank Jr has also been asked about Fury. He thinks the WBC world champion is now “probably an underdog” heading into the fight with Usyk.

“I think that that will probably light a fire under his a**e,” Eubank Jr told Seconds Out.

“[He] needs to get [his] stuff together, because if [he] goes in there against Usyk like against Ngannou, there’s no way [he] can win. Fury is probably an underdog.”