Aspinall is a former training partner of Fury’s, and is ready to help prepare Tyson for an MMA striker like Ngannou.
Francis Ngannou is pulling out all the stops as he prepares for his boxing superfight against Tyson Fury on October 28th. “The Predator” recently revealed that Mike Tyson will be training him for the fight and plans to be in his corner in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Tyson Fury doesn’t have a celebrity of that stature added to the team, but he will have UFC heavyweight contender Tom Aspinall in his corner. Aspinall had spoken about helping his former sparring partner, and now it’s confirmed.
“I’m actually going to help Tyson,” Aspinall said on Michael Bisping’s podcast. “I have no loyalties to Francis Ngannou.”
“I think Ngannou has a puncher’s chance, obviously,” he said regarding the Cameroonian’s chances. “He’s one of the hardest punchers in combat sports. But, I think that’s all he’s got, to be honest. I’m not saying, well if Francis Ngannou knocks out Tyson Fury, I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m not saying it can’t happen. It definitely can happen. But, if we’re talking about skillsets, Tyson Fury is like universes ahead of him in terms of skillset.”
Aspinall did give Ngannou some respect for being potentially unorthodox in the ring.
“When you throw somebody in like a Deontay Wilder, like a Francis Ngannou who’s throwing looping shots and uppercuts and doing all kinds of unorthodox stuff, the boxers aren’t as used to it as they would like,” Aspinall admitted. “For example, if Tyson Fury boxed Anthony Joshua, it would be the easiest fight ever for him. Easiest fight ever, ‘cause he’s so basic.”
“It’s gonna be much harder for a traditional boxer to fight someone more unorthodox. So I can see Francis bringing a few more problems than somebody like an Anthony Joshua would to Tyson Fury.”
Deontay Wilder gave Tyson Fury some trouble over their trilogy of fights, and Ngannou is hoping to hit Fury hard with an unexpected shot from a strange angle as well. Can he do it? Bookies certainly aren’t giving him much of a chance. But we’ll find out come the end of October.