Reporters’ star ratings for main events and undercards are based on in-ring entertainment, competitiveness and whether overall expectation was met
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
MAY 20
MAIN EVENT
UNDERCARD
ATMOSPHERE
ASK any of those in attendance, whether who packed the purpose built, 26,000 Kingdom Arena in Riyadh and they will all say the same thing: for a moment in the third round, time stood still.
That was when Francis Ngannou, boxing’s most famous debutant, caught Tyson Fury high on his head with a counter left-hook fit for any ring, sending the consensus No.1 heavyweight crashing to the canvas and to the brink of perhaps the biggest upset in sporting history.
Of course Fury did what Fury does and got up. But in that moment, charged by anarchic energy, boxing’s life flashed before its eyes. And while it did, a few feet north of centre ring, Ngannou danced, quite literally, over its
