Israel Adesanya has sided with YouTube star KSI amid debates over the Brit’s highly-controversial boxing bout against Tommy Fury on Saturday night.
KSI, 30, was handed the first loss of his professional boxing career at the AO Arena in Manchester after judges’ scored a unanimous decision victory for Fury on the night.
It was a result that has been met with much debate as many, such as Chris Eubank Jr and Fury’s brother Shane, were quick to question the judges’ decision.
And now, former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has weighed in with his own opinion and has suggested that he thought KSI won the bout.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Adesanya said: ‘I think KSI might have taken it man. I’m not a judge but I think with the point deduction as well, I think he [KSI] won this’.
Tommy Fury (L) triumphed via unanimous decision against KSI (R) on Saturday night
Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya (R) thought that KSI won the boxing fight
Then, once the decision was announced, Adesanya painted a bemused figure as he questioned the judges’ scoring.
In response to the decision, he said: ‘Who knows man. I wasn’t watching the fight to score. I just saw a lot of right-hands landing.
‘Just looking at it as a fight, I thought KSI won. But hey, boxing [arm shrug]. Actually no, judges [arm shrug]’.
After the fight, KSI insisted he was ‘robbed’ after being beaten by Fury by majority decision in their clash in Manchester.
Fury’s victory against KSI was initially ruled as a ‘majority decision’ victory before being corrected as ‘a unanimous decision’ after one of the judges’ scorecards was added up incorrectly.
It was announced that the judge in question scored the fight as a 57-57 draw when he actually scored it 57-56 to Fury.
The other two judges also scored the six-round fight 57-56 to Fury as the Love Island star secured a controversial victory in Manchester.
The verdict was greeted with anger by KSI, with the YouTuber insisting he had beaten his professional rival.
‘I understand the Fury name. I won it. It’s outrageous,’ KSI told DAZN. ‘Minus a point as well. I landed the cleanest shots. He couldn’t get any jabs off’.
Statistics from the fight revealed that Fury had thrown 159 punches across the six rounds, compared to KSI’s 124.
Fury connected with 39 of his punches, just one more than his rival.
KSI insisted he was ‘robbed’ after being beaten by Tommy Fury at the AO Arena
Fury won the fight with the scorecards reading 57-57, 57-56, despite having a point deducted in the contest
Chris Eubank Jnr joined other pundits in trashing the official result that awarded Tommy Fury with a majority decision victory over KSI on Saturday evening.
Eubank Jnr praised KSI’s boxing ability in the ring and labelled boxing as a ‘strange thing’ while giving his post-fight analysis on DAZN.
The super middleweight contender explained: ‘I thought KSI landed the cleanest shots. Was moving better, boxing better. The points deduction was huge. Boxing is a strange thing’.
Meanwhile, Eddie Hearn – who helped put on the Misfits boxing show – stated on IFNboxing: ‘He had a point deducted. KSI won the fight.’
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