Eddie Hearn Believes Fury-Ngannou 2 Is Bigger Than Fury-Usyk Now

Eddie Hearn thinks Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk lost some luster after Saturday.

Fury returned to the ring to take on former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in an intriguing matchup. Heading into the fight, Fury was a massive betting favorite and many expected him to cruise to a win, but that wasn’t the case.

Instead, Ngannou had dropped Fury and many thought he should have got the win, but it was Fury who won a split decision. Now, after the fight, Eddie Hearn expects Fury to take some much-needed time off.

“I think Tyson is going to find it difficult over the next few weeks, because it’s going to be on top of him,” Hearn told The MMA Hour (h/t BoxingScene). “And he doesn’t like that. He won’t like the criticism. And he’ll probably take a break from social media or media and just sort of slip away, and say, ‘I’m going to just chill,’ and family time and Christmas and stuff like that. But it will hurt him, the criticism, because it’s massively tainted his legacy.”

Although Tyson Fury was supposed to box Oleksandr Usyk on Dec. 23, they won’t be fighting on that date now. As well, Hearn thinks the Ngannou fight is actually the bigger fight for Fury.

“It’s an interesting dynamic now. I said after the interview, it was a bit of a snap reaction, that the Usyk-Fury fight is dead. It’s obviously not dead. It’s still a big fight. But the value of that fight has plummeted. Because really, you want to see him rematch Francis Ngannou. And I think Francis Ngannou now sits there with plenty of opportunities,” Hearn said.

“It’s actually amazing for boxing and MMA. A lot of people are saying, ‘This is terrible for boxing, some guy has just come in and beat Tyson Fury. It’s like, mate, do you know how many people are talking about boxing today? Actually, I just got back, I’ve been to the gym [and] everyone’s talking about it – and if you’re Francis Ngannou right now, you’re sitting there as one of the most valuable boxers in the world. And you’re right, he can go back into the MMA world and have a massive fight. Now he’s a huge name. Huge. Good luck to him,” Hearn continued.

Do you agree with Eddie Hearn?