Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou isn’t buying Tyson Fury’s claim that he stands at a staggering 6’9″ tall.
On Saturday, October 28, Ngannou will make his long-awaited return to competition, but it won’t be inside a cage. This time, ‘The Predator’ will strap on the eight-ounce gloves for a clash with ‘The Gypsy King’ in the squared circle. After months of training videos, epic promos, and plenty of trash-talk, fight week is finally upon us.
Ahead of their highly anticipated showdown in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury sat down for a face-to-face interview with TNT Sports’ Carl Frampton. During the interaction, Frampton was admittedly surprised that the height difference between the two world-class fighters appeared to be much less than expected. It was then that Ngannou called Fury’s advertised height into question.
“They say he’s 6’9? But this doesn’t look like five inches difference to me,” Ngannou said. “I’m 6’4, and I would say you are about 6’5.”
Nevertheless, Tyson Fury will go into the bout with an advantage in both height and experience in the boxing ring.
Every drop of sweat shed today is an investment for tomorrow, the suffering endured today is the joy of tomorrow. What goes around comes around.
It’s FIGHT WEEK
#FuryNgannou pic.twitter.com/2FvfRYguLz
— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) October 23, 2023
Tyson Fury Confident He’ll Finish Francis Ngannou In Six
Given the massive gap in experience between the two, pundits are giving Francis Ngannou, at best, a puncher’s chance against Fury, but many expect ‘The Gypsy King’ to handle business without breaking much of a sweat when the two men meet in the Middle East. Sharing his own prediction for Saturday’s scrap, Fury is confident that ‘The Predator’ won’t even make it past the sixth stanza in their 10-round bout.
“I’m going to knock him out inside six rounds,” Fury announced during his face-to-face with Ngannou.
“Shall I tell you how I’m going to do it? Got on the front foot, high arms, siccing him with a punishing jab, 19, 20 stone in the face — boom, boom, boom — bust him up, swell his eyes out, and then feint, slip, bang. KO. On the front foot, not running away. On the front foot, hand [guarding my] eye, let him hit the shoulder, slip, slip, bang, slip, slip, bang — down in a heap.
“Listen, no one can take my power. Nobody. These heavyweights don’t have a chance. You better believe it,” Fury promised. “I’m going to come out, nice, stiff, snappy jab — bang. Doubling up, maybe even tripling it — bang. Bang, bang, bang. Jab, slip, slip, slip, body shot, uppercut, jab, jab, feint — bang, right hand. Game over” (h/t MMA Fighting).
Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou goes down this Saturday, October 28, with the main card set to kick off at 2 p.m. ET with main event ring walks expected to begin at 5:40 p.m. ET. Fans in the United States can catch the event live on ESPN+ pay-per-view. TNT Sports Box Office will broadcast the fights for those in the UK.