The fight details
A matchup that will be one of the biggest MMA vs boxing fights in history, Tyson Fury will box Francis Ngannou on October 28 in Saudi Arabia. Fury and Ngannou are two of the top heavyweights in the world in their respective sports. The last time two of the top fighters in MMA and boxing met in a boxing ring was Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor in August of 2017. A lot of MMA fighters have made their professional boxing debuts since then. Nate Diaz, one of the most recent, made his debut on August 5 against Jake Paul. Ngannou is the latest to take the challenge.
MMA fighters have not had many great performances in big boxing matches over the past few years. Former and current UFC fighters McGregor, Ben Askren, Anderson Silva, Tyron Woodley, and Nate Diaz all lost in a boxing ring recently, and all of them except McGregor lost to Jake Paul.
Francis “The Predator” Ngannou
Francis Ngannou is the underdog heading into his first professional boxing match. Ngannou has +533 odds to win the fight on Bet99. He is a former UFC heavyweight champion and has a 17-3 professional MMA record. After months of negotiations with the UFC and what seemed like endless back and forth between Ngannou and current UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Ngannou finally announced his new deal with the PFL and later announced his fight with Fury.
Ngannou has had an MMA fight since his UFC heavyweight title victory over Ciryl Gane in January of last year, a unanimous decision victory. Ngannou has a puncher’s chance in this fight. During his time in the UFC, he was one of the hardest hitters in the heavyweight division. Since his loss to Derrick Lewis in 2018, a fight he landed 11 strikes in, five of Ngannou’s six victories came by KO/TKO. Four of those KO/TKO wins happened in the first round, the other in the second round.
Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury
As expected, Fury is the betting favourite on sports betting sites ahead of this fight by a huge margin. Fury has -1200 odds to win the fight on Bet99. Fury’s professional boxing record is 33-0-1. Many fans know him for his victory over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 and his trilogy with Deontay Wilder. Fury is still recognized as one of the top heavyweight boxers in the world. Fury is ranked sixth on ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings. His last fight was in December last year.
For Fury, this should be a relatively easy fight. He survived three fights with one of the hardest hitting heavyweights in boxing history and won two of the fights. Fury has power, is one of the best boxers on the planet, and has a proven chin. If Ngannou can not knock out Fury with one punch, there is almost no way Fury can lose this fight. If Fury loses to Ngannou, it will be one of the biggest upsets in the history of boxing
