Tyson Fury described Cristiano Ronaldo as the “greatest footballer that has ever lived” when they bumped into each other at the Champions Gala – and you could see how much it meant to the Al Nassr forward.
The self-proclaimed Gypsy King will come up against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on Friday night in a historic 10-round crossover bout that has been branded the ‘Battle of the Baddest’.
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Ahead of the event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a host of the world’s biggest stars, including Eminem, Mike Tyson, Manny Pacquiao and Oleksandr Usyk, attended a Gala dinner at the luxurious St Regis Hotel.
Cristiano Ronaldo was also present at the red carpet event and posed for pictures with the likes of Tommy Fury before sitting down with his older brother.
Check out the meeting below:
Tyson Fury meets Cristiano Ronaldo in RiyadhCredit: X/@Turki_alalshikh0 seconds of 28 secondsVolume 90%
Speaking to the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, Fury said: “Cristiano you are the greatest footballer that has ever lived, and I mean that. I am a big fan. I watched you at United the first time, the second time and all your time at Real Madrid.”
Ronaldo would then ask Fury if he’d ever been to watch him at Old Trafford.
Last year, after Ronaldo returned to Manchester United, Fury gave his honest take on the transfer.
He told The Mirror: “It’s good news Ronaldo is staying on, but here’s a theory: when they didn’t have him the season before last, they finished second in the Premier League, then we had Ronaldo and we finished sixth.
“People will say, ‘Well, if we hadn’t had him scoring 20 goals we’d have finished a lot lower last season’, but we didn’t the season before and we finished a lot higher.
“When you have a superstar like Ronaldo, everybody relies on him to score goals and if he wasn’t there they’d be scoring the goals themselves, like they did the season before last.”
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Fury added: “I’m not saying he’s a bad asset, he’s a great asset, but sometimes with a star player, he carries the team and the young people are overshadowed by it all, they don’t get their chance to shine because ‘the great Ronaldo’ is on the pitch.”
As well as Ronaldo, the WBC heavyweight champion of the world stumbled across soon-to-be-opponent Oleksandr Usyk.
“I’m expecting the fight to take place in December, that’s what I’ve been told, so I’ve got no reason to disbelieve it,” Fury said ahead of his bout against Ngannou. “Usyk has to fight me in December, doesn’t have a choice.
“He’s signed a contract so if he doesn’t, he’s breached contract and he gets sued. He doesn’t really have a choice.”
Source: sportbible.com
