Dewey Cooper, trainer of MMA veteran Francis Ngannou, indicates that his fighter was promised a top ten ranking from World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman.
On Saturday in Saudi Arabia, Ngannou made his professional boxing debut against the man many viewed as the top heavyweight of the weight class, WBC world champion Tyson Fury.
Their fight was a non-title affair, because Ngannou was not ranked by the sanctioning body.
Ngannou exceeded all expectations by dropping Fury in the third round and fighting him on even terms for most of the contest.
In the end, Fury was awarded a close split decision victory. One judge scored it 95-94 for Ngannou, but he was overruled by tallies of 95-94 and 96-93 for Fury.
Because of his unexpected performance against the lineal champion of the weight class, Ngannou may now find himself in the world title hunt.
“Mauricio Sulaiman, the president of the WBC, said he’s going to rank him in the top 10 because he’s better than most of the heavyweights in the top 10. He said that in the ring,” Cooper said to MMA Junkie.
UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier was one of m any to give high praise to Ngannou, who himself is a former UFC heavyweight champion.
“Francis Ngannou proved that he is the baddest man on the planet,” Cormier said. “Why? Because he was the heavyweight champion of the UFC, and he fought the lineal heavyweight champion of the world to a split decision. Tyson Fury could not fight Francis Ngannou in mixed martial arts in the way that Francis fought Tyson in boxing. There’s no way a fight between any boxer and the UFC heavyweight champion in mixed martial arts goes to that type of decision. It was the most impressive performance I’ve ever seen for a guy outside of the realm of expertise.”