Tyson Fury Saturday night defeated Francis Ngannou  by a split-decision in a special heavyweight bout from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that was much more hard-fought than many thought it would be.

Ngannou might have been expected to come out hot, but it was Fury who threw the opening salvo. He fired a warning shot with an overhand right in the opening moments, reports Bleacherreport.

That turned out to be one of the highlight moments from the opening round. Ngannou took a patient approach early with a few jabs to the body while Fury fired off a few more overhand rights.

Ngannou continued to acquit himself nicely. A few analysts even gave him the second round in which he opened up a cut above Fury’s eye.

The great moments kept coming for Ngannou when he landed a sharp left hook that knocked down Fury in the third.

While Fury got off to a slow start, Ngannou definitely earned respect with his ability to put Fury in some uncomfortable spots.

Despite the positive moments from Ngannou, Fury continued to have success with his jab and found a home for plenty of his own shots.

The boxing world came away shocked and impressed with Ngannou, who put in a stunning performance in his introduction to the sport.

This fight quickly became more than an ordinary crossover event. Ngannou has established a reputation as one of the most powerful punchers in MMA and walked away from the UFC as the heavyweight champion.

Part of his reasoning for leaving was his desire to box. When his contract expired, he wanted to pursue at least one boxing match to test his skills.

While the UFC wasn’t willing to give him the kind of contract that he wanted, the Professional Fighter League was happy to include the freedom in his deal. The 37-year-old has yet to fight with his new MMA organization but he has at least checked “professional boxing match” off of his career to-do list.

Of course, winning a professional boxing match remains elusive.

In fairness, Ngannou made his debut against the best heavyweight in the world. While this wasn’t for a championship, Fury holds the WBC title and has plans to defend it in late 2023 or early 2024 against Oleksandr Usyk.

With the win Fury moves his record to 34-0-1. Despite the long odds that he would get upset by someone making his boxing debut, Fury respected Ngannou as an opponent.

“I never, ever do that,” he said in regards to taking Ngannou lightly, per Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting. “If I was fighting somebody in a local bar, and I knew I had to fight the guy in six weeks, guy not even from a combat sport, I would train hard, because you never know what the guy is going to bring. Never mind someone from a bar, I’m fighting an absolute killer in Francis Ngannou”

Now Fury gets to move his attention to another champion in Usyk. The Ukrainian is is 21-0 and has the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles. The unification bout should be a massive event and the win over Ngannou only creates more momentum for it.