Fighting Tyson Fury will be 'suicide' for Francis Ngannou, says UFC middleweight champ Alex Pereira
Alex Pereira doesn’t think Francis Ngannou has a chance against Tyson Fury in boxing.
‘The Predator’ hasn’t announced who his first opponent outside of the UFC will be, but he continues to show interest in professional boxing. The primary possible opponents being mentioned are Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.
Francis Ngannou has ridiculous power, regardless of the glove size, but ‘Poatan’ believes he will likely struggle against the elite heavyweight boxers. During an interview with MMAFighting, Pereira had this to say about ‘The Predator’ potentially taking on Fury:
“It depends if he’s fighting the elite. [Boxing against] Tyson is hard. It’s suicide… There are other guys for him to start. [He can go] one step at a time. If he really wants to fight those guys, then he’s just thinking about the money. I don’t know if that’s the case. But to say ‘I’m going there because I want to become champion,’ that’s hard. [Boxing] someone who can defend from his punches, [Ngannou] would get tired.”
Pereira continued by saying
“I”ll give you a dumb example: If you ask someone who’s never trained in in his life to go against someone experienced and tell him to hit as hard as he can to knock him out, he’ll gas out in three minutes, and then one weak punch will knock him out since he has no defense anymore and can barely stand still. To me, knowing how to defend yourself is the the most important thing.”
The possibility of Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury has fluctuated over the past year. At one point, the matchup seemed inevitable when ‘The Gypsy King’ defeated Dillian Whyte and ‘The Predator’ entered the ring after for a faceoff. Since then, the heavyweight boxing champion seems more focused on fighting Oleksandr Usyk next.
Boxing’s Heavyweight Champion standing next to the UFC Heavyweight Champion.
Francis Ngannou says that him and Tyson Fury will fight under hybrid rules.
In a boxing ring but with MMA gloves.
https://t.co/UmndMNgyzX
Take a look at who Francis Ngannou wants to fight next:
Alex Pereira compares Jon Jones would beat Francis Ngannou at heavyweight
Before Franics Ngannou left the UFC, a matchup against Jon Jones at heavyweight was arguably the most anticipated MMA fight that could be made. During the same interview with MMAFighting, Alex Pereira was asked about Jones fighting Ciryl Gane, and he compared it to the hypothetical fight against Ngannou:
“It’s never easy, but I think this fight will be much harder than if he had fought Ngannou. Ngannou is stronger and would want to trade punches with Jon Jones, and Jon Jones is very experienced, has great defense, so I think Jon Jones would beat Ngannou.”
On March 4, Jones will make his long-awaited heavyweight debut in the UFC 285 main event. ‘Bones’ is taking on Gane, the former interim champion, with the vacant title up for grabs. Only time will tell if one of the greatest fighters of all time will find success in his new weight class.