The past 20 months or so have been both turbulent and triumphant for Francis Ngannou. A winding road that began with a title defence, then an ugly, public quarrel with the UFC has somehow led Ngannou to a boxing match with the best heavyweight of the modern era for which he is receiving life-changing money.
Ngannou will find himself in his boxing debut, standing across the ring from undefeated lineal heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury on Saturday afternoon in Saudi Arabia, and combat sports fans will quickly learn whether Ngannou’s abilities match his ambition or if the mixed martial arts star has made a severe error in judgement by taking on this challenge.
Ngannou’s departure from the UFC was tumultuous. A contract dispute resulted in the former UFC heavyweight champion losing his title despite not being defeated. He ended up leaving the UFC without ever facing Jon Jones in what would’ve been a highly anticipated clash and he quickly went from being a celebrated champion, marketed as the scariest knockout artist in the sport’s history, to having his character and accomplishments disparaged in the press by UFC president Dana White.
A determined Ngannou did not cave during his negotiations with the UFC and after his brief setback, which led to his free agency, he signed a lucrative multi-fight contract with the Professional Fighters League. That venture, however, will begin after this bout with Fury.
Ngannou’s financial triumphs are one thing. Having any modicum of success boxing Fury is an entirely different hill to climb.
The fight is scheduled for 10 three-minute rounds and the fighters will be wearing 10-ounce gloves, much more padding than the four-ounce MMA gloves with which Ngannou is used to landing his knockout punches.
Make no mistake, this is a colossal mismatch of boxing skills and Ngannou is risking beginning his PFL career coming off an embarrassing loss.
It’s conceivable Fury could win a decision with his jab and defence alone, although he has said leading up to the event he plans on putting Ngannou away with relative ease.
Will Ngannou be able to put forth a respectable showing like Conor McGregor, in some ways, did in his mega crossover fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., back in 2017? Mayweather eventually put the former two-weight UFC champ away with a 10th-round TKO but McGregor managed a couple fun moments and didn’t get knocked out or battered.
The boxing skill gap between Fury and Ngannou may even be more drastic than Mayweather’s advantage over McGregor, yet the biggest difference here is the immense power the two goliaths carry.
Like with most heavyweight matchups, both combatants possess natural knockout power. It’s crazy to completely dismiss Ngannou’s puncher’s chance, but many of Fury’s past opponents also had little more than a puncher’s chance and the night didn’t end well for them.
Deontay Wilder, an Olympic medallist who has some of the most devastating knockouts of the past decade, landed clean and knocked Fury down multiple times during their trilogy but even he wasn’t able to defeat Fury.
TALE OF THE TAPE
Tyson Fury
Age: 35
Nickname: The Gypsy King
Height: 6-foot-9 | Weight: 277.7 pounds
Reach: 85 inches
Pro boxing record: 33-0-1 (24 KOs)
Fury is nine pounds heavier than he was the last time he stepped in the ring against Derek Chisora 10 months ago. Fury also weighed in at 277 for his trilogy bout with Wilder two years ago, which he won via vicious 11th-round knockout.
Francis Ngannou
Age: 37
Nickname: The Predator
Height: 6-foot-4 | Weight: 272.1 pounds
Reach: 83 inches
Pro boxing record: 0-0 | MMA record: 17-3 (12 KOs)
This is the heaviest fight fans have seen Ngannou, considering the heavyweight limit in MMA is 265 pounds.
“If that overhand right catches him, he will go down because he hasn’t been knocked down by a person who is the hardest puncher in the world,” Ngannou said at Friday’s weigh-ins following a nose-to-nose, belly-to-belly stare down with Fury.
In addition to the massive payday, Fury is essentially using this matchup with the former UFC champion as a tune-up fight for his upcoming bout with Oleksandr Usyk. Fury is the WBC and lineal champion, while Usyk holds the IBF, WBA and WBO titles. Both are undefeated as pros and it is a heavyweight matchup boxing purists are actually looking forward to.
The proposed date for the Fury-Usyk unification bout is Dec. 23 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the same location as Saturday’s event, barring any unforeseen setbacks against Ngannou.
Ultimately the only real question heading into Saturday’s bout — besides perhaps “wait a minute, is Fury really 6-foot-9?” — is whether Fury will give Ngannou any window, a single momentary lapse in judgement due to lack of focus or an overinflated ego, for the MMA star to land a punch that could change the legacy of both men in a split second.
As you can see from the betting lines below, oddsmakers aren’t expecting that to happen and aren’t giving Ngannou much of a chance with the bout not expected to see the final bell.
BETTING ODDS
Fury to win -1430 | Ngannou to win +700 | Draw +3300
Fury by KO/TKO/DQ -500 | Ngannou by KO/TKO/DQ +800
Fury by decision +500 | Ngannou by decision +4000
Less than 5.0 rounds -150 | 5.0 or more rounds +110
Fight to go the distance: +400
Fury hasn’t fought since his 10th-round technical knockout win over Derek Chisora in December, while Ngannou last fought in January 2022 when he defended his UFC heavyweight title with a unanimous decision win over Ciryl Gane.
Fury in Round 1 +800 | Fury in Round 2 +700 | Fury in Round 3 +600 | Fury in Round 4 +600 | Fury in Round 5 +700 | Fury in Round 6 +900 | Fury in Round 7 +1100 | Fury in Round 8 +1400 | Fury in Round 9 +1600 | Fury in Round 10 +2000
These odds suggest Fury is most likely to knock Ngannou out in the third or fourth round. Fury’s two quickest victories since returning to the sport in 2018 following a three-year absence was his four-round victory over Sefer Seferi in his first fight back and a second-round technical knockout of Tom Schwarz six months after Fury’s split draw with Wilder.
Ngannou in Round 1 +3300 | Ngannou in Round 2 +4000 | Ngannou in Round 3 +5000 | Ngannou in Round 4 6600 | Ngannou in Round 5 +8000 | Ngannou in Round 6 +10000 | Ngannou in Round 7 +10000 | Ngannou in Round 8 +12500 | Ngannou in Round 9 +12500 | Ngannou in Round 10 +15000
Ngannou announced Monday during an appearance on The MMA Hour his cornermen will be Eric Nicksick, Dewey Cooper, John M’Bumba, plus former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson who Fury is literally named after.
(Odds above via Sports Interaction as of Friday and subject to change)
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