Francis Ngannou’s trainer, Dewey Cooper, believed his fighter had done enough to pull off a major upset over WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

Before a lively crowd in Saudi Arabia, Ngannou dropped Fury in the third round and gave him a lot of problems during their ten round contest.

In the end, Fury came away with a split decision victory - as two judges had it 95-94 and 96-93 for Fury, while a third had it 95-94 for Ngannou.

The MMA veteran, who previously held the UFC world title, was making his professional debut as a boxer.

Cooper admits the fight was very close, but he felt the third round knockdown was the difference for Ngannou.

"I thought we won the fight with the knockdown. It was a back and forth fight but I felt like it was probably even on rounds and the knockdown should have given us the advantage – like the one judge had it, 95-94 is how I scored it. I even told Francis in the last round that he had to stay sharp, don’t let him steal the fight," Cooper said to Metro.co,uk.

"So I thought we had won it closely but even losing this fight closely is a magnificent accomplishment. Everybody, you guys [the media], everybody said we had no shot. Everybody said he was getting knocked out no matter what he do. But he dropped the champ. The prime, undefeated champ. His first fight out. He went 10 rounds with as much energy as the champ. I felt we won the fight by a round or two.

"But this is why boxing is going on a slight decline. Boxing is now a business disguised as a sport. We need to keep it real and make these decisions as transparent as possible. At the end of the day it didn’t go our way but I’m proud of Francis."