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Francis Ngannou came close to pulling off the biggest and most outrageous shock in boxing history just after midnight on Saturday in Riyadh. Ngannou had never once fought as a boxer, but for 10 rounds he bullied, pushed, clubbed, hit and dropped the unbeaten world heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury. At the end of the contest, Fury won a controversial split decision to remain unbeaten, but his bruised and bloody face was harsh and undeniable testimony to the success Ngannou had throughout the fight. It was called a freak show, a circus event and the carnival fight was meant to be an easy night in the ring for Fury; at ringside, the other unbeaten heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk, was waiting with a smile on his face and his contract for a fight with Fury in his pocket. He was not smiling at the end. The plan had been for their $100m unification fight to be back in Riyadh in late December; that date has not yet officially been dropped, but it is seriously unlikely. Fury was exhausted and heavily marked on the left side of his face: the champion looked stunned when the fight was finished, just as he looked stunned a dozen times during the action. “I need a long, hard break,” Fury said. He also praised Ngannou and was, thankfully, respectful in victory. There was a sense of true bewilderment in the packed ring at the end – I know, I was in the mix. “I have told him to go away, take a break and to not even think about boxing,” added Frank Warren, Fury’s promoter. It is clearly what Fury needs. A decision on the date of the Fury vs Usyk fight will be made in the next week or two; it will be in Saudi before the end of March. It will happen, but Ngannou has pushed it back and also put himself in prime position to fight the winner. In the ring, Ngannou was magnificent and controlled and never once flustered by anything that Fury did. The smart thinking before the first bell was that even a slow, heavy and unmotivated Fury would simply know too much for a man having his very first boxing match. Ngannou, who has lost three of his 20 fights on the mixed martial arts circuit, stuck to boxing’s absolute basics and Fury was unable to solve any of the problems that his novice opponent posed. Sure, it was a great performance from the Cameroonian-French fighter, but Fury was very poor. In round three, Fury was caught with a looping left hook and sent tumbling, dazed and embarrassed to the canvas. It was not a fluke punch or a wild swing; Ngannou was in charge of the pace and he was picking his punches with care. Fury was ragged and often held with a desperation that was hard to believe. Ngannou kept the pressure on for the entire 10 rounds and Fury never managed to take full control of the fight. Fury never hurt Ngannou, he never once made Ngannou look like a novice. It was hard to watch at times and difficult to absorb what was happening; Fury clearly had no idea how to deal with the man he had deeply underestimated. There must be a full inquest inside the swollen Fury team. In the second half of the fight, as Ngannou slowed, Fury had some success with a flicking jab, but he was still quick to hold. Ngannou ignored the big rights that connected with his chin and head. The later rounds were closer, slower and three or four could have gone to either man. Fury was having his 35th fight, he is generally acknowledged as the best heavyweight of his generation, and some have even claimed he is one of the top five heavyweights in history. However, in the ring against Ngannou, there were very few recognisable parts of any fighting version of Fury the world heavyweight champion; he fought like a novice and often looked like he was uncomfortable under pressure. And Ngannou did put him under pressure. At the final bell, there were no great celebrations from either man, no mad scrambles to raise a fighter high on shoulders. They were both exhausted, their teams drained. It was a split decision; one vote of 95-94 for Ngannou and a 96-93 and 95-94 for Fury. There was relief, not joy on Fury’s face at the end. Ngannou just shrugged. He had been a gentleman all week. “I came up short today,” Ngannou said. “I will fight on. I will get better.” He never once complained that he had been robbed. In the ring at the end, there was a stare-off between Fury and Usyk, but it never looked like either man was committed to the ceremony. Fury had a bad night, Ngannou the finest of his fighting career; Fury will never be that bad again and hopefully, at some point next year, Ngannou and Fury will do it all again. It was not a circus fight, but it was a carnival in Saudi Arabia. Read More Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk date in doubt as Francis Ngannou result changes plan Tyson Fury hints at next steps after Francis Ngannou victory Hearn makes bold Fury vs Joshua prediction after Ngannou win Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou punch stats reveal surprise after split-decision Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk confirm date for heavyweight unification fight Tyson Fury survives knockdown to beat Francis Ngannou by controversial decision

Sir Alex Ferguson managed Manchester United for 26 years and 1500 games, but he only attended 1497 of them. He missed three: one for his son Mark’s wedding, one for his sister-in-law’s funeral, and a League Cup tie against Scunthorpe in 2010 when he went on a scouting trip. The sense then was that he was watching United’s Champions League opponents Valencia; instead the teenage goalkeeper in the opposition side, Atletico Madrid, was the focus of his attention. A dozen years since he was signed, David de Gea’s departure removes the last survivor of the Ferguson era: for the first time since the relegation season of 1973-74, United in 2023-24 will not feature anyone who has made or will make an appearance for the great Scot. For the first time since 1934-35, there will be none who have played or will play for Ferguson or Sir Matt Busby. Erik ten Hag calls upon Ferguson’s counsel but there are ways in which he makes a break with the past, as Harry Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo can testify. But De Gea was always intended to be part of Ferguson’s legacy: bought when the manager was approaching his 70th birthday, signed with his successors in mind. Ferguson could be selfish and selfless and De Gea reflected the latter: United got 545 appearances from the Spaniard, the seventh most in their history and second only to Wayne Rooney among those Ferguson bought, and 190 clean sheets, 10 more than even Peter Schmeichel. And yet his is a legacy that leads itself to different conclusions. De Gea’s dozen seasons brought a lone league title: the previous 13 produced eight, with four Champions League final appearances and two victories on the biggest stage. De Gea’s last decade comprised of United’s wilderness years; in the worst of them, 2021-22, one of their most eloquent critics was the goalkeeper himself, when his own excellence gave him freedom to express his frustration. But his last game provided a sadly fitting end: De Gea was beaten inside 13 seconds in the FA Cup final, then horribly culpable for Ilkay Gundogan’s ultimately decisive second goal. His final year felt a series of indignities: United’s Europa League exit to Sevilla owed much to a De Gea shocker, capped by an embarrassing error. His last few years at Old Trafford were pockmarked by two problems: an increasing number of mistakes – far more forgivable in his good years – and his limitations in distribution; many of his best saves were with his feet, but he struggled to use them to find teammates. Perhaps August’s 4-0 defeat to Brentford was the beginning of the end in that respect; it was evident he was an imperfect fit for Ten Hag’s style of play. It underlined the way that De Gea seemed old before his time, an old-fashioned goalkeeper in a fast-changing role. He is only two years older than Alisson, three older than Ederson, less than five the senior of his probable successor Andre Onana, but seemingly plucked from another generation, one where a goalkeeper’s job did not extend beyond stopping shots. The hashtag at his peak was “DaveSaves”. The issue was that Dave did not kick as well. De Gea was the future once; at 32, he has become the past. He almost joined Real Madrid in 2015, but for a faulty fax machine, but there is no such scramble for his services now. Even before his contract talks with United ended, it became likelier he would not be first choice. Staying would have always involved a sizeable pay cut; in part because his previous deal was so lucrative. He was famously the world’s best-paid goalkeeper; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer used to lazily parrot the line he was the world’s best long after evidence suggested otherwise. But at his peak, he was surely in the top five. He had days when he seemed unbeatable. His 14 saves against Arsenal in 2017 came in an extraordinary display of defiance. United branded him a “legend” in the announcement that he would go. Perhaps he both was and wasn’t: De Gea was sometimes a beacon of excellence in mediocre teams, especially in the years immediately after Ferguson’s retirement. He was named United’s player of the year a joint record four times, but that often reflected a lack of competition. Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar never won the award but they were Ferguson’s two greatest goalkeeping signings. Each chose his exit and each played his last game in a Champions League final, Schmeichel lifting the trophy in 1999. De Gea’s departure has more common denominators with that of the only other goalkeeper to play 500 games for United: Alex Stepney ended up being dropped by Dave Sexton, his fifth manager. He, too, had had his greatest days in his mid-twenties. There was a point when it seemed like De Gea would be a fixture for years to come, perhaps ending up second only to Ryan Giggs in United’s all-time appearance list. But he started to look a man out of time, even before the interest in Onana suggested he would be a man out of the team. But outstanding as De Gea was in the mid-2010s, as the last link to Ferguson is severed, it serves as a reminder that the last decade has scarcely gone to plan. Read More Why Onana is such an upgrade on De Gea for Man United De Gea confirms Man United exit with ‘farewell message’ to fans Man United transfer news: Mount signs and bid made for Onana

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