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Tyson Fury blasted as ‘disrespectful’ towards Francis Ngannou
Francis Ngannou has been the recipient of a lot of free career advice this year. Now, Tyson Fury is getting some from UFC commentator Daniel Cormier, a man who once held the UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight titles at the same time.
Cormier has not been shy with his career advice for Ngannou in the past, even if he’s made some dramatic reversals in his opinions.
Ngannou and Fury are set to meet in a non-title boxing match this month, October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champ (and still the lineal MMA heavyweight champ), will be making his pro boxing debut against Tyson Fury, the current WBC champ (and former unified title boxing champ).
Many have criticized Fury for taking the meaningless Ngannou match while apparently ducking the rightful #1 contender Oleksandr Usyk. Now that Fury has agreed to face Usyk, Daniel Cormier is not happy.
“It is the most disrespectful thing Tyson Fury could do,” Cormier said (ht MMA Junkie). “It is so disrespectful. Tyson Fury knows. It’s kind of crazy, bro, because I hope Francis knocks his head off. I like Tyson Fury, I watched his show on Netflix and fell in love with the dude. … I like Tyson Fury so much now.
“I love his personality, I love his family, but it is the most disrespectful thing that you could do. He scheduled a fight two months later, essentially saying that he’s going to be completely clean when he’s done with Francis Ngannou. So, he’s going to beat Francis and go fight the No. 2 heavyweight in the world right after. It’s crazy.”
Based on the odds for the Ngannou vs Fury bout, Fury is making a completely rational decision. Tyson Fury opened up as a -500 favorite but is now drawing bets at -1250.
Francis Ngannou’s recent training video with Mike Tyson didn’t help his cause. Analysts such as Showtime Boxing’s Luke Thomas pointed out seriously bad form on Ngannou’s part in the video.
On the other hand, the new promo video Ngannou released for the fight is getting rave reviews. As our own Kristen King described it: “Throughout various scenes in the promo, Ngannou and Fury are seen hitting pads, pulverizing punching bags and slamming down steel maces hard enough to make the entire world quake.”
Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk also set for Saudi Arabia
The Fury vs. Usyk bout was announced last week and will happen at the Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia. No date has been officially announced, but preliminary reports note that the blockbuster fight will either take place at the tail end of this year or early in 2024 (per Bad Left Hook). One date mentioned in is December 23, less than two months after Fury’s scheduled fight with Ngannou.
But promoter Bob Arum says, “I don’t know where the 23rd of December came from. If Fury avoids any injury inshallah, as they say, then the fight will be when Prince Turki (Alalshikh) wants to do the fight,” he said. “It’s not my call. It’s not Frank Warren’s call. It’s the guy putting up the money.”
As far as the purst for the Fury-Usyk bout, Arum also said, “Fury, in that (Usyk) fight and the Ngannou fight, in the near future, we’re hoping that he comes in at around $200 million.”
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