It’s safe to say that Francis Ngannou is limited to a puncher’s chance—at best—in his upcoming crossover boxing match versus Tyson Fury.
To his credit, the former UFC heavyweight champion has enhanced those odds by enlisting the services of one of the biggest punchers in boxing history—former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
“We are working on the delivery system. If you have been watching my training, you will see I am working with one of the best fighters to ever live, Mike Tyson,” Ngannou noted during the press conference to formally announce their October 28 Pay-Per-View main event from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “If you are talking about a delivery system, you can’t go any bigger than that.”
Ngannou enters his pro boxing debut as a massive +700 underdog according to bet365 sportsbook, which lists England’s Fury (33-0-1, 24KOs) as a -1200 favorite to prevail in their scheduled ten-round heavyweight bout.
Traditional observers of the sport view the event as little more than a cash-grab, which airs on TNT Sport Box Office in the U.K. and ESPN+ PPV in the U.S. Fury is a two-time and current lineal heavyweight champion, though his WBC title will not be at stake for the event.
Ngannou boasted power and physical strength during his time in mixed martial arts. The last of his five-fight knockout streak came in his UFC heavyweight championship winning effort over Stipe Miocic, whom the Cameroon-born combat sports athlete knocked out in the second round of their March 2021 meeting.
It’s a different animal entirely when it comes to putting on boxing gloves and having to limit yourself to that one fighting discipline. Not to mention, Ngannou’s first fight out the gate comes versus not only the best heavyweight in the world but the division’s best pure boxer who also packs power of his own. Fury has scored knockout victories in five of his past six starts, including two over former WBC heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder, arguably the hardest singular puncher in heavyweight history.
None of that has discouraged Ngannou from pulling off what would go down as by far one of the biggest upsets in recent memory.
“Don’t be fooled, I know this is a big challenge for me,” acknowledged Ngannou. “That’s why I am working hard to put myself in this position. Even great fighters didn’t have the opportunity in their lifetime, in their career to be sitting in this position and having a fight of this magnitude. Sometimes I wake up in the night, I’m like ‘Am I dreaming?’ Then I walk around, and realize this is real. I’m going to fight the best fighter for my first boxing fight.
“I always ask myself, what will happen when I hit that guy and he hits the floor and doesn’t stand up? Are you the best boxer in the world now? What would that be? If you take out number one then you are number one, right? I will take him out and then figure out the rest afterward.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox