Teddy Atlas has weighed in with his assessment for the crossover clash between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou, having actually conducted a training session with Ngannou a couple of years ago.
Most observers are expecting the fight to be a formality for Fury – hardly surprising, given it will be former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou’s professional boxing debut.
Speaking on his podcast The Fight when the fight was first being discussed in combat sport circles, Atlas agreed with that consensus, claiming Ngannou was effectively having his hands tied behind his back by the rule set.
“To say that that’s a fair way to find out who the better fighter is, when you’re going to take one who is allowed to use all the skills he’s acquired over 20 years of training, and then tell the UFC you can’t kick, you can’t grapple, you can’t elbow, you can’t do any of that – but we’re going to find out who the best fighter is.”
“No you’re not! The boxer is going to win because it’s his realm, it’s his domain. You’re tying the other guys hands behind his back and taking away the skills he needs to be at his best.”
Atlas was in the ring with Ngannou putting him through his paces two years back.
MMA fighters have had little success in the boxing ring in recent years, with the likes of Conor McGregor and Anderson Silva all coming unstuck.
Though Ngannou is arguably the heaviest hitter in all of mixed martial arts, few are giving him much chance of even landing clean on Fury this autumn, let alone beating him.
If ‘The Nightmare’ was to somehow win, he would remarkably be crowned lineal heavyweight world champion on his boxing debut.