Former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is very proud of MMA veteran Francis Ngannou.
Last month, Ngannou made his professional debut against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury – who many regard, at least prior to the fight, as the top fighter of the weight class.
Ngannou was trained and advised by Tyson in the leadup to the fight.
For weeks, Tyson warned everyone that Ngannou had a very dangerous left hand.
The Hall of Famer’s words proved true, when Ngannou connected with a hard left hand and dropped Fury in the third round.
Fury’s left eye took damage and his forehead was cut by an Ngannou uppercut. The bout that many had expected to become a one-sided boxing match was instead a very competitive encounter.
Fury was able to walk away with a close ten round split decision win, with two scores of 96-93 and 95-94, with a third judge scoring 95-94 for Ngannou.
“I’m proud of Francis Ngannou because he listened to everything I said, and I was telling everybody about the great left hook that he landed on his sparring partner and actually broke his leg and I knew if he landed that left hook on anybody they were gone and I was right. The champ went down,” said Tyson on “Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson.”
“I’m happy. I’m very grateful to be involved with his glory, his victory. I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of Mr. Francis.”
Ngannou parted ways with the UFC late last year, and then signed with rival organization PFL in early 2023. Based on last month’s performance, the former UFC champion has a lot of opportunities in boxing and MMA. He intends to compete in both in 2024, with two planned ring appearances.