Tyson Fury showed off his battered and bruised face after his controversial win over Francis Ngannou.
The Gypsy King took on the former MMA star in Riyadh on Saturday evening in one of the most highly anticipated fights of the year.
The 35-year-old narrowly won the fight via split decision on a score of 94-95, 96-93, 95-94, but Ngannou left with plenty of credit after a fine performance in his first-ever professional boxing fight.
Fury was knocked down in the third round and left battered and bruised after his crossover fight with the former UFC heavyweight champion.
But he insisted nothing could derail his uncontested heavyweight showdown with Oleksandr Usyk on December 23.
Tyson Fury showed off his battered and bruised face after his controversial victory
MMA star Francis Ngannou appeared unaffected after the Saudi fight on Saturday evening
The Gypsy King was completely pushed by the former MMA star during the fight in Riyadh
Morecambe’s WBC heavyweight king had struck a deal with Ukraine’s WBA, IBF and WBO to contest all belts.
With nasty purple bruises around his battered left eye, Fury insisted: “I just have some superficial bruising.
“There was a minor head impact and a few bumps, but nothing serious, no major injuries.”
Fury claimed his lackluster performance was due to ring rust and that he had to lose 26 pounds in just eight weeks.
“I’m not taking anything away from Francis Ngannou,” he told Boxing King Media.
‘I trained very well and prepared very well.
“But it’s boxing where you have good nights and bad nights and you just have to keep going and keep going.
‘I felt my timing was quite wrong, I have been out of the ring for almost a year.
“I had some ring rust, it wasn’t one of my best performances, it was far from vintage Tyson Fury.”
When asked point-blank whether December 23 was still on the schedule, he said: “I’ll leave that all to my team, I won’t interfere.”
Fury was knocked down by Ngannou in the third round when he took several hits to the face