Tyson Fury welcomes former MMA champion, Francis Ngannou, to the boxing ring this weekend in Saudi Arabia.
The two big men will fight for ten rounds in a crossover contest that is expected to be a wildly successful event across the board – even despite the apparent lack of jeopardy for the undefeated Fury.
Some intrigue has been added with the inclusion of ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson – a former undisputed heavyweight champion and widely feared fighter in his day.
The boxing legend has been training Ngannou, but Carl Froch believes there would be more of a fight if he donned the gloves himself.
The former super-middleweight champion told reporters that Tyson, 57, would be dangerous in the early rounds.
“Bringing Mike Tyson in has brought more interest to it, it’s like he’s glamorized the event. Wherever he goes he’s like a god. He f****** mad, brilliant fighter and the ultimate fighting machine.
There’s an argument to say Mike Tyson would give Tyson Fury a better fight than Francis Ngannou. He’s got all of that experience, he’s an old man, but he’d give Tyson Fury more of a fight for two or three rounds than Francis Ngannou is going to manage. The trainer has got more of a chance than Ngannou, 100 percent. He has, hasn’t he? You can’t argue with that.”
Froch went on to say that, given what he’s seen from Ngannou in training, there’s not even a puncher’s chance that Fury loses.
“Listen, this is a f****** sparring session, probably the easiest spar he’s ever had. I don’t care that Ngannou can punch, a mule can kick really hard, but he’s never going to be able to line it up. Fury’s not going to be worried about getting hit by that monstrous punch because I’ve seen Ngannou on the pads and he looks terrible.
He looks like what I’d expect a zero fight novice to look like. Ngannou looked slow, awkward, stiff – how is he going to get near Fury? He’s going to get his head absolutely peppered off.”
The crossover contest headlines an all-heavyweight undercard featuring a British title fight between Fabio Wardley and David Adeleye.
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