Boxing purists are calling the fight between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou a farce and giving the former UFC champion little to no chance to pull off the massive offset in the crossover clash.
But if you ask Fury (30-0-1, 24 KOs), the WBC heavyweight champion appears to be spooked out by Ngannou (17-3, 12 KOs MMA) more than his other upcoming opponent in WBO, WBA, IBF, and IBO titlist Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs).
“A lot of people are on about this undisputed fight [against Usyk], fantastic. But I have a much more dangerous person to deal with on [October 28] than I do after for the undisputed fight, I believe,” Fury told ESPN boxing insider Mike Coppinger in an interview.
“Because Francis is a bigger man, stronger, more powerful and has knockout capability. As we’ve seen with Oleksandr Usyk, he doesn’t really do much damage to people he hits. So you could probably let Usyk punch you all about the head and he’ll give you a black eye. If you let Ngannou punch you all about the head, he’s probably going to rattle your brain for you.
“He won’t do anything that I’ve not seen before. I’ve sparred with a lot of kickboxers and MMA fighters over the years. They’re all strong and tough guys, and they all can take a good beating usually.
“So I’m expecting him to be fit and strong and motivated. He’s getting an awful lot of money to be here and fight, so I’m sure he is going to have a good game plan, and I’m sure he is going to try and execute it.”
Fury co-promoters Queensberry and Top Rank announced on September 29 that the fight between Fury and Usyk was signed and set to take place in Saudi Arabia at a yet-to-be-determined date.
The 35-year-old Fury will have to come away from the fight unscathed in order to follow up and prepare for Usyk in short order – a December 23 date has been floated around.
“The Gypsy King” Fury last fought in December and dominated Derek Chisora in a rematch by scoring a tenth-round stoppage win.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.