Following Tyson Fury’s controversial split decision win over Francis Ngannou in Riyadh, Premier League VAR officials were asked to review the fight – and said it all looks a-okay to them.
The world heavyweight champion took on MMA star Ngannou for the sh*ts n giggles of Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman and looked like he’d been sitting on his a*se for the last six weeks rather than training for the ten round contest.
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – OCTOBER 28: Francis Ngannou punches Tyson Fury during the Heavyweight fight between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou at Boulevard Hall on October 28, 2023 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
And the Gypsy King was definitely sitting on his a*se in round three of the contest, as the Cameroon-born Ngannou knocked him down with a thunderous blow to the head and threatened to end his unbeaten record.
The former UFC fighter, taking part in his first ever professional boxing event, left everyone convinced he’d caused a stunning upset when the fight ended – except the judges, who somehow contrived to give the result to Fury by the slimmest of margins.
Following an outraged reaction across the globe to the decision, the Saudi organisers of the Battle of the Baddest arranged for Premier League VAR officials to review the contest.
“Yeah, we had a few of the lads over from Stockley Park to ref Al-Ahli v Al-Ahli’s B team in a training ground friendly – they’ve the Manchester Derby on Sunday, but we don’t think an early flight back from Riyadh will affect their judgement in the slightest,” a spokesman for the Crown Prince said.
“They reviewed the fight and said it looked fine to them – especially when we told them how many people we beheaded last year.”
Riyadh is set to host the meeting of Usyk and Fury in December but that could’ve been scuppered by a defeat for the Wythenshawe fighter.
Later, an audio recording of the officials was released to support their assessment of the fight result.
VAR: Possible knockdown, Fury.
Assistant referee 1: Give it, 10-8 Ngannou.
Assistant referee 2: Coming back for the knockdown, mate.
VAR: Just checking the knockdown…
Delay, delay… Nah, looks like Fury’s just taking a mid-round breather on the canvas. Round 10-9 to Fury.
Check complete.
Mohammed bin Salman: Well done boys, good process.
VAR chief Howard Webb is expected to issue an apology later today for the decision, as well as several other decisions in the Manchester Derby, though sources within Stockley Park are keen to emphasise that strides are being made to improves the us of video replay.
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“Look, we want to make VAR better. That’s why we now use ChatGPT to automatically generate apologies as soon as we f**k up.
“We’re at least 50% more efficient in issuing apologies than we were last season as a result. That’s huge progress,” our source said.
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