Eddie Hearn believes that Tyson Fury ‘lost’ his high-profile clash with Francis Ngannou in Riyadh on Saturday evening, and shared his views on the fight with Mail Sport’s podcast ‘The Hook’. 

The lineal heavyweight champion anticipated a demolition of the former UFC champion, but Ngannou came leaping out the gates to take the contest the full 10 rounds.

Ngannou even managed to knock Fury to the canvas – but Fury was handed the victory by split-decision.

But in his first-ever fight, Ngannou acquitted himself well, with many earmarking fighters including Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua as potential future opponents.

Hearn himself labelled Fury’s performance ‘dreadful’ and questioned which of the pair had ‘never fought before’ on Saturday in Saudi Arabia.

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Eddie Hearn ‘felt in his gut’ that Tyson Fury lost to Ngannou

Tyson Fury won his showdown with Francis Ngannou by split decision in Riyadh on Saturday

But the fighter struggled for large chunks of the contest, which the UFC star took to 10 rounds

‘Before the fight I gave Francis Ngannou zero chance of winning, like, on paper it’s just the most terrible mismatch,’ Hearn said. ‘A guy who has never had a professional boxing match. And I think there was definitely an element of Tyson looking through him, he wasn’t as well prepared as he should have been, but it was still an awful performance.

‘I feel a bit for Oleksandr Usyk because the Fury-Uysk fight is massively devalued to the point that Francis Ngannou should get his rematch,’ he added. ‘I felt (Ngannou) won the fight. When the final bell went, my gut feeling was he’s got this.’

Hearn also stressed that he ‘felt’ for Ngannou because ‘if he would have got the final result on paper, it would have gone down as one of the greatest sporting victories. Forget  boxing – in the history of sport. Forget Buster Douglas against Mike Tyson, forget Joshua-(Andy) Ruiz.

‘It was close, but if Fury had’ve dropped Ngannou and hurt him a couple of times, we would have said that Fury should have won the fight. But he didn’t really do anything.

‘Fury looked scared in the back end of the fight. Everytime they got in a clinch, he looked like he was getting flung around. It was a difficult fight in that no one really did a lot in the back end but – but because (Ngannou) dropped him and because he won those early two rounds, for me, he won the fight.

‘When the final bell went, I went “oh my God, he’s lost.” Everyone was messaging me saying “Fury’s just lost, Fury’s just lost”. And then, of course, it went to final score cards and he won.

‘Most people’s reaction was that Ngannou won the fight. I can’t believe it.

‘Fury looked like the guy who’s never boxed before. It was amazing.’

In voicing his opinion, Hearn joined Carl Froch, who called victory for the Gypsy King ‘corruption of the highest order’.

Ngannou also managed to knock Fury down after a run of blistering rounds – but the Gypsy King recovered nicely

Hearn believes that Ngannou is due a rematch with the Gypsy King after narrowly losing

The Matchroom promoter also suggested that the much-anticipated clash between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk had been ‘devalued’

‘Tyson Fury got beat. That was a bad decision,’ the former middleweight world champion claimed.

‘Tyson Fury against Oleksandr Usyk is the fight we should be getting, and that’s the reason I think Ngannou didn’t get the nod last night.

‘For me, it’s corruption at the highest level.’

Hearn also hinted that there would be a delay to Fury’s contest with Usyk, saying that he didn’t see it until ‘February or March’.