Otto Wallin has told Tyson Fury’s next opponent, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, to make their fight “uncomfortable.”
Wallin faced Fury in between his first two fights with Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas in 2019.
The Swedish contender opened huge cuts above Fury’s eye which required 47 stitches to fix. Despite ‘The Gypsy King’ going on to win by unanimous decision, there was a real danger of the fight being called in Wallin’s favour due to the damage.
Speaking to TMZ Sports, he says Fury is “the best heavyweight” in the world, and, whilst he credits Ngannou as “the best at MMA”, he points out their upcoming bout in Riyadh on October 28 will be different to any fight he’s ever been in.
“So obviously you’re going to favour Fury a lot. He’s fighting someone who’s making his pro debut really and it’s a whole different sport. As difficult as it would be for Fury to go to MMA, it’s gonna be the same for Ngannou, so of course, Fury is going to be a big favourite.”
“Fury has probably been boxing since he was a kid, and focused only on boxing, every day, in sparring, perfecting it, and he’s become the best at it.
And then you have Ngannou, he’s the best at MMA, but it’s not only hands, it clinching, knees, grappling, everything, [there’s] so much you have to be good at in MMA, so it makes it harder to be as good at boxing.”
He went on to name what he believes will be the biggest learning curve for the MMA man in the ring.
“The defence is different. I would say probably that’s the biggest thing, the defence. When you start getting hit by a guy like Fury, you’re going to feel it. [Ngannou’s] really going to be out of his comfort zone.”
The interviewer points out that fans of Ngannou will say “he can always land that one big punch”, which led Wallin to give the underdog some tips.
“The chance is always there, so he could hit him and knock him out, but the chances are slim of course. Fury is a good defensive boxer. I landed quite a few good punches and busted his eye open.
For Ngannou, he really has to set it up and try and hit that body of Fury because he’s a big guy so go for the body and then follow it up to the head. He can’t box him really, he needs to really make it a fight, a dog fight, take it to Fury, rough him up, go in there and use what he has.
He’s a strong guy so try and push Fury around and land the punches he can, because he can’t just stand there long distance and try to box ’cause then he’s going to be picked apart.
If Tyson is comfortable dancing and doing whatever that he usually does then its going to be a very tough fight for Ngannou so he has to make it uncomfortable for Fury.”
Ngannou recently revealed that he is preparing to go the full ten rounds.