The first time Ngannou met ‘Iron’ Mike, he asked his idol to train him should a fight with Tyson Fury come together. Ngannou said ‘The thing, it manifested itself.’
The Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury boxing match on October 28th was already an intruiging match-up to some. It became even more interesting when Ngannou announced that Mike Tyson would be in his corner for the fight and helping him prepare for “The Gypsy King.”
How did this massive team-up come together? Francis Ngannou revealed it was a deal four years in the making.
During the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, “The Predator” went into the details of Tyson’s participation in the fight and how often they train together.
“Not so much, he comes time to time,” he admitted when asked. “Not always. He’s not always with me.”
“But if you look, four years ago, exactly four years ago, that’s when Tyson and I started hit each other on social media,” he added. “And four years ago was the first time I met Mike Tyson. I was on his podcast, the Hotboxing. And one request that I initiated at that time was ‘Whenever I fight Tyson Fury, will you be in my corner?’ And he said yes.”
“That’s even on my Instagram. It’s still on my Instagram. The next day I put that as the caption, ‘I asked him if he would be in my corner when I fight Tyson Fury.’ Nobody believed that this would happen. Like okay, cool. Then what? And when I get the fight I go ‘I think it’s happening.’ That thing is manifesting itself.”
As for what Mike Tyson is helping Ngannou with?
“With Mike Tyson, the one best thing that you can get from Mike Tyson is the footwork,” Ngannou said. “In boxing, everything is about your foot, and his power was based on his footwork. When you have a good base, your punch is definitely stronger than when you don’t have a good base. It’s how to have that good base to extend your punch when you’re based.”
“His entire career, he was almost fighting people like Tyson Fury. And that’s why I explicitly went to him about this fight because I feel like if I was able to have, let’s say, a quarter of what Mike Tyson has, this fight would be easy. I mean, that’s not an easy fight, but it’d be an easier fight.”
As for who Ngannou is spending the majority of his training time with, he’s keeping with his longtime boxing coach Dewey “Black Kobra” Cooper and an unknown enigma from France who doesn’t seem to exist as far as the internet is concerned.
“I’m training with Dewey Cooper,” Ngannou told Rogan. “I also get this guy from France named Jean Bomba that I used to work with him, train my boxing with him. He’s a young, very young guy. But I like his style, the way his approach and stuff, and I have a really good connection with him.”
“Even before the fight I was working with him, taking him in Cameroon to do some training already. Then when the fight get announced, I brought him out so he’s in Vegas with me.”
Ngannou vs. Fury goes down October 28th from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Bookies currently have Fury a -1000 favorite against the +680 Ngannou.