"The rematch is what I want next the most" - Francis Ngannou demands a second chance against Tyson Fury
Francis Ngannou has revealed that he wants his second boxing bout to be a rematch against Tyson Fury.
'The Predator' faced Fury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on October 28. Their fight, billed as the 'Battle of the Baddest,' saw Ngannou make his boxing debut against the lineal heavyweight champion. The clash was expected to see a routine victory for 'The Gypsy King' as he already had one eye on a potential December 23 bout against Oleksandr Usyk.
Ngannou had read a different script, however, and stunned the world with his performance against Fury.
The Cameroonian went toe-to-toe with the Brit across all 10 rounds and even knocked him down to the canvas in round three. Despite a valiant effort from the MMA star, he controversially came up short on the scorecards and narrowly missed out on causing one of combat sport's biggest upsets via split decision.
Now, almost a week on from his bout against Tyson Fury, Francis Ngannou has laid out his plans for the future.
In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, Ngannou stated that while he has plenty of options going forward, the 'wise' choice would be the rematch. He said:
"The rematch. The rematch is want I want next the most because as for right now, there are a lot of options for me but I want to choose wisely. I will go for the rematch first. Going into the first one, there was a lot of questions and uncertainty for my boxing...but I think for the next one we will be way for from all thouse doubts."
Catch Ngannou's comments here (0:15):
Francis Ngannou's coach still hopeful for Jon Jones bout in the future
Eric Nicksick, coach of Francis Ngannou, recently revealed that he's still dreaming about a potential clash between Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones.
'The Predator' left the UFC earlier this year after contract talks broke down between the two parties. Ngannou has since made his boxing debut and signed with the PFL, whereas Jones made the move up to heavyweight to capture the Cameroonian's vacated title.
Despite Ngannou's newfound success in boxing and being signed to a direct MMA competitor, Eric Nicksick told Ariel Helwani that he's still hopeful his pupil will face Jon Jones in the octagon. He said:
"In a perfect world, for me, I still want that Jon Jones fight... Just because I want to compete against the best, and I think Jon is the best. I don’t want any more guesses about who is the baddest man on the planet. Let’s run it."
Catch Nicksick's comments here: