Francis Ngannou has made it clear that his fight with Tyson Fury is a professional boxing bout.
The two heavyweights – one from MMA and one from boxing – will face off in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 28.
There was backlash before it was even announced, mostly stemming from promoter Eddie Hearn telling Boxing Social that he had heard it would be an exhibition-style bout with a no knockdown rule in place.
Speaking on The MMA Hour, Ngannou said it was impossible for Hearn to know the details of the bout.
“How did they know? How did Eddie Hearn know about this? Who give all the details? I don’t remember him being around the table on this fight.
What I can say is that he doesn’t know anything about it … That’s clear. He doesn’t know anything.”
The MMA man went on to confirm that the fight would be the first on his professional boxing record and Fury’s 35th – but the WBC World Heavyweight title would not be up for grabs.
“This is a real fight. The only difference is that there’s not a title on the line, but it’s a real fight. It’s going on our record.”
Ngannou said that there simply wasn’t time to negotiate Fury’s belt being the prize, but now that the fight was signed he may revisit the matter with the WBC.
“The title is not on the line. That’s another discussion that is gonna take a lot inside the WBC and all that stuff. In order to make this fight happen if we wanted to do everything, there was a lot of parties involved and this fight wouldn’t happen.
It was like okay we have to get this quick and done … From now on, we can have that discussion, because the fight is on. We can see if that’s something to be considered, but, if not, what matters is the fight. I was going to fight, not the title.”
It’s safe to say there would be fresh complaints should the WBC put the belt on the line given that Ngannou is making his debut and therefore unranked.
The general consensus is that the sanctioning body may create a one-off trophy belt for the contest, similar to what they have done in the past for contests like Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor and Jake Paul-Tommy Fury.