In the immortal words of South Park: blame Canada!
Veteran referee Michael Griffin, a native of Montreal, was charged with officiating the Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury boxing spectacle last weekend in Riyadh, a bout that saw “The Predator” drop “The Gypsy King” during their 10-round showdown … only to lose a controversial split decision.
But the wonky scorecards were not the only point of contention.
“Last Saturday I was a lion fighting a pack of hyenas: Tyson Fury, the referee for allowing an illegal elbow, and the judges for their scorecards,” Ngannou wrote on social media. “I watched the elbow video tens of times and I don’t understand why the referee didn’t take a point from him.”
Here’s another look:
Ronaldo saw it from ringside but Griffin, inside the squared circle, did not.
“No damage was caused,” trainer Robert Garcia told ESNEWS. “I don’t know what the ref would have called. On the slow motion replay, you could clearly see that he went in for the elbow, but during the fight, nobody sees that. This one was clearly an elbow [from Fury]. You could tell. It was clearly on purpose. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Especially when the bout is a non-title exhibition.
Fury was expected to face Oleksandr Usyk in a title unification bout on Dec. 23 in Riyadh; however, the damage sustained against Nganou has forced “The Gypsy King” to delay that contest until early next year (more on that here). As for Ngannou, he’s still deciding on where he’ll compete next, with option available in both boxing and MMA.
For much more on last weekend’s “Fury vs. Ngannou” spectacle click here.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
