Tyson Fury’s return to the ring against Francis Ngannou is still generating plenty of headlines and now retried British fighter David Haye has said ‘The Gypsy King’ could get killed by the former MMA champion.
Speaking to Seconds Out, Haye said that millions of MMA fans would love to see Ngannou – who is being trained by boxing legend Mike Tyson – break the rules and choke Fury out when they come to blows in Riyadh in October.
“Who could stop him? If he puts a rear naked choke hold on Tyson, who can stop him?
He could probably kill him. Who could physically get him off? You’d have to shoot him if he chooses to do that, that’s how powerful he is. I’d keep it long-range if I was Tyson.”
Haye was then asked if the old adage that in heavyweight boxing one punch can change a fight holds true with Fury-Ngannou.
“It’s heavyweight boxing, he’s never done any boxing, so it doesn’t really apply to Ngannou. At least Connor McGregor had some form of amateur pedigree [before he fought Floyd Mayweather.] So that’s why he was able to maintain a few rounds. It looked like a legitimate match, maybe because Floyd Mayweather allowed it to.”
Haye predicts an easy night for Fury, with it just a matter of whether the WBC champion decides to make it entertaining fight for the fans.
“Is he going to go out there and just dispatch him? Or is he going to tie him up, make him tired, hit him with some body shots and put on a show? I think Fury is good enough to make it entertaining, or he could go out there like he did with Deontay Wilder the second time and just smoke him. I’d like him to drag it out 6/7 rounds, bust him up and show why there is a difference between professional boxers and MMA fighters.”
Many fight fans would agree with that, but many more would prefer to see Fury taking on the challenge of Oleksandr Usyk, although recent news from the IBF seems to have put yet more dampeners on the that.