Mike Coppinger and Brett Okamoto3 Minute Read
Fury, Ngannou the latest to battle for title of ‘The Baddest’
Mark Kriegel chronicles the history of crossover fights and explains why Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou could be the biggest of them all.
The fight is finally here. Tyson Fury, the WBC and lineal heavyweight champion, takes on former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV).
The fight will be contested in a boxing ring over 10 rounds, but Fury’s belt won’t be on the line.
Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs), 35, of Manchester, England, defeated Dillian Whyte by sixth-round TKO in 2022 and eight months later stopped Derek Chisora in the 10th-round . It was expected that Fury would face unified champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship, but talks to finalize the bout ended in March.
“He’s a big, strong guy,” Fury said during a news conference Thursday. “Obviously, he’s got a good punch. But so am I. I’m a big, strong guy. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be the world heavyweight champion. But I believe there’s levels to the game. And he’s going to find out my level on Saturday night. … I have no doubt in my mind that I will knock him out.”
Ngannou, 37, of Cameroon, has notable victories in the UFC against Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in March 2021, and against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022. Ngannou left the UFC a year later and signed a contract with the PFL that allows him to box.
“This camp has been different from my past camps. It’s a different experience, a different beast. I was aware that there was a mountain in front of me, so that’s why we started the camp a lot earlier. And it went well, but having somebody like Mike Tyson around and my coach Dewey Cooper was very helpful in terms of approaching this fight.
“Tyson Fury is definitely the best in boxing, but that’s stopping on Saturday night.”
Stay here for fight recaps, live updates and round-by-round analysis from Mike Coppinger and Brett Okamoto.
