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We are now less than a week away from Francis Ngannou making his professional boxing debut against heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
And neither fighter is lacking for confidence.
That’s particularly true for Fury, who not only believes he’ll knock out Ngannou, but knows exactly how he’s going to do so.
The pair sat down with former champion boxer Carl Frampton for a TNT Sports face-to-face interview and Fury wasn’t shy about his game plan.
“I’m going to knock him out inside six rounds,” Fury claimed.
“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.”
Now, given that Fury has just about cleaned out the heavyweight division in boxing, this isn’t exactly an unrealistic prediction.
But Ngannou doesn’t quite see things the same.
“No, no, no. Come on. Come on,” the former UFC champ responded.
“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.”
All Ngannou could do was laugh at the often boisterous champion. But he did lean on an old boxing adage for his final retort.
“Wow, that looks like a script from a movie,” he said with a laugh. “But as you said earlier, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
Ngannou has been training with Mike Tyson in the lead up to the fight. Tyson, like Ngannou, believes one big punch could be enough to put Fury away.
“It is no secret I back Ngannou 100% in this face-off of champions. He has one hard punch, and when it lands, it’s game over,” he said previously. I am looking forward to working with Ngannou and supporting his transition from the octagon to the boxing ring. He isn’t a combat novice, he is a world champion. The key will be combining his energy and combat skills into his punches and using his agility to move swiftly around the ring then delivering the knock-out blow. We’re here to win.”
Whether he wins or loses, Fury will retain his WBC heavyweight title. The belt is not on the line against Ngannou, despite it being an official professional fight.