‘God help him’ – Francis Ngannou lambasted for open workout with Mike Tyson

Francis Ngannou worked the pads with Mike Tyson in preparation for his fight with Tyson Fury. Not everyone is impressed.

By: Tim Bissell | 2 months ago

Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury is set for October 28

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Francis Ngannou, the former UFC heavyweight champion (who never lost his title), is boxing WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in Saudia Arabia in a few weeks.

The sportwashing spectacle will draw more eye-balls and dollar signs than Ngannou could have ever commanded during his time in the UFC Octagon. However, it’s up for debate whether Ngannou will walk away from the fight with a win in addition to everything else he’s set to earn.

Fury is, of course, one of the greatest (if not the greatest) heavyweight boxers of his generation. Despite being on the cusp of 36-years-old, Tyson has looked sharp in his recent outings; pasting Derek Chisora and Dillian Whyte in 2022.

Ngannou, who is two years older than Fury, has zero pro boxing experience. Though, he tells us it was always his dream to be a boxer before he fell in with Fernand Lopez’s MMA Factory in Paris. Despite having no pro boxing experience, some are excited to see Ngannou box one of the best in the world and have faith that the awesome punching power he showed in the UFC will carry over into a new sport.

Recently cameras captured Ngannou hitting the pads, under the guidance of heavyweight legend Mike Tyson.

It wasn’t great.

Francis Ngannou’s open workout shredded online

Check out below as Francis Ngannou works the pads. As you can see this open workout featured a lot more instruction, from Tyson in this case, than we are used to seeing in these kind of things. Harsher critics online have ripped Ngannou for the lack of pace shown in the workout and how tired he looked after less than ten minutes.

However, it should be noted that these arm-chair corner-men probably don’t have much expertise in the sweet science themselves.

One person who does know what their looking at is John Fury, though he’s not exactly an objective observer. On Instagram he ridiculed the workout, calling it a ‘disgrace’ and ’embarrassing’.

“Just seen Francis Ngannou and Mike Tyson and that so-called trainer what’s got the pads on, seen the open workout. I hope he’s kidding along and he’s playing possum here. I hope that’s a joke man and intended to be a laugh. Because if it’s not, he ain’t got a prayer. He ain’t got a cat in hell’s chance. He won’t get out of the first round. It’s probably going to be Tyson’s quickest knockout.

“But you know what? It’s got to be kidology that. It’s got to be fun and games. Because if that’s what he’s got, well, God help him, he’ll get smashed to bits. That’s all I’m saying, mate. That’s embarrassing. If that’s what he can do on a public workout, don’t bother doing a public workout. It’s a disgrace.”

Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury is expected to go down on October 28. Stick with Bloody Elbow for all the news and updates as we get closer to the big fight.


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About the author
Tim Bissell
Tim Bissell

Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. Among Tim's specialties are the intersections between crime and combat sports. Tim has also covered head trauma, concussions and CTE in great detail.

Tim is also BE's lead (only) sumo reporter. He blogs about that sport here and on his own substack, Sumo Stomp!

Email me at tim@bloodyelbow.com. Nice messages will get a response.

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