The most fearsome mixed martial arts (MMA) Heavyweight trades four-ounce gloves for eight-ounce gloves TONIGHT (Sat., Oct. 28, 2023) when former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion, Francis Ngannou, makes his professional boxing debut against undefeated WBC kingpin, Tyson Fury.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE coverage of the “Fury vs. Ngannou”-led pay-per-view (PPV) main card right here. The PPV main card broadcast kicks off on ESPN+ at 2 p.m. ET, while Fury and Ngannou are expected to make their ring walks around 6 p.m. ET.
The bout caps off an all-Heavyweight main card that features top contenders like Joseph Parker and Martin Bakole, as well as undefeated sluggers Fabio Wardley, David Adeleye and Arslanbek Makhmudov.
We all know what you’re here to see, though, so let’s not beat around the bush. How does tonight’s main event go down?
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THE FIGHT
All you really need to know about the competitiveness of this matchup is that Fury intends to face unified champion Oleksandr Usyk — one of the toughest opponents of his career — less than two months later.
Excessive though it may be, Fury’s arrogance is justified here (sorry, Francis). Indeed, it’s hard to overstate just how wide the technical gap is. Fury possesses uncanny grace for a such a massive and awkward-looking man. If he elects to keep his distance and pepper Ngannou, “The Predator” lacks the footwork or explosive closing speed to chase him down. Even if he does somehow bulldoze his way inside, Fury is incredibly adept at using that awkward frame to smother opponents in the clinch, sapping their energy with both rough-housing and the sheer effort of carrying a 270-pound monster.
To be clear, Fury can choose to be defensive, but he doesn’t have to. After getting clipped twice in his first match with Deontay Wilder, Fury ramped up the aggression and utterly mauled him in the rematch. If he sees it as the best path to victory, he’s bold and skilled enough to force a power-puncher onto the back foot, something Ngannou rarely had to deal with in the Octagon.
Were this a striking match with four-ounce gloves, I’d be at least open to the idea of giving Ngannou a puncher’s chance. Not so with boxing equipment, which will not only slow Ngannou’s punches, but make it significantly more difficult to sneak an awkward bomb through Fury’s guard.
I’m not even convinced a stray haymaker could keep Fury down, either. Wilder landed several of his legendary right hands flush to Fury’s face and never managed to dispose of him.
Rust, underdeveloped technique and an unfamiliar ruleset would make this an uphill battle for Ngannou against even a low-level Heavyweight. Against arguably the best of this generation? There’s no amount of “will to win” that can save him.
In the end, expect Fury to methodically dismantle Ngannou before forcing a mercy stoppage.
Just as “The Gypsy King” predicted.
Prediction: Fury def. Ngannou via sixth-round technical knockout
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