The world was left shell-shocked in October when MMA star Francis Ngannou dropped heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and danced above his dazed body. Fury had his hand raised at the end of the contest, but the world only saw one winner after Ngannou had done the unthinkable to the WBC champion.
The excuses brigade began to point out Fury’s fleshy shape and rumours that he hadn’t trained or sparred properly for the fight began to circle. Fast forward to February, and speculation grew after Fury released images of his slimmer physique ahead of his postponed clash with Oleksandr Usyk.
Ngannou’s trainer Dewey Cooper was asked what he thought about the difference in Fury’s shape between the bouts.
“Let me tell you something, that’s another narrative that I don’t like,” said Cooper.
“When he beat Deontay Wilder, compare his body to what it looked like against Francis. See what I mean? We can make comparisons all day. His body looked better against Francis than it looked against Deontay Wilder. Did it mean anything? No.
“Yes, his body looked slightly better for the Usyk fight. You know, I’ll be the first to agree with that, but if it were a bodybuilding contest who had the best body, Tyson Fury would never have been champion.”
Cooper played down speculation that the Gypsy King had overlooked the former UFC champion and insisted that Fury, after being dropped in round three, was switched on to his opponent.
“The bottom line, he had enough time to prepare for Francis,” added Cooper. “He trained and he had 30-minutes to show that he was a better man. No overlooking when you have a 10-round fight. I understand you may think you have an easy fight coming and you go in there first two, three rounds and think it’s going to be easy.
“But when the fight gets difficult, what do champions do? They kick in their alter ego, they get to work, and they get it done in a 10-round fight. So, there wasn’t any taking Francis lightly or him not being ready. He was ready.”
Cooper also said that the WBC champion didn’t have an off night, it was his man’s performance that made Fury look far from his usual self: “The world just didn’t understand how terrific of a boxer Francis could be,” said Cooper.
“Everyone looks at him like just some power puncher who gases out and that’s not the case. The world thought Tyson looked bad because Francis is that guy. I can’t wait for what they have to say about March 8, because we plan on an exemplary performance and shaking up the world of boxing again by defeating a great fighter like Anthony Joshua.”
Fury has dominated his opponents with his size and skill but was unable to have an impact on Ngannou physically, and Cooper believes the MMA star’s grappling training played a part in that.
“They must have been crazy if they thought Fury was going to do to Francis what he did to previous heavyweights,” said Cooper. “I was doing boxing before I was doing MMA – the opposite of what the media thinks. You know, grappling against another boxer is different than physical grappling against a mixed martial artist who does it three, four times a week for hours at a time.
“I’m sure he thought he’d be able to smother and hold and hit and dirty box and clinch up presses like he’s done everyone else to tire them out. But we’re laughing about that the entire camp. We knew we had a huge advantage in that area and so that was no surprise to us,” added Cooper.
After the intriguing clash between Ngannou and Joshua, Coopers’ attention will turn to season two of Team Combat League kicking off on March 28.
The dramatic first season was a huge success and fans can expect more knockout action from teams coached by boxing legends such as Manny Robles, Jeff Mayweather and Austin Trout.