Tyson Fury says Francis Ngannou's inexperience forced him to train even longer than for Deontay Wilder
Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is set to take boxing world champion Tyson Fury in a boxing match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 28.
Ngannou vacated his heavyweight title and left the UFC earlier this year to pursue other ventures outside a mixed martial arts setting. He will be making his professional boxing debut against an opponent as formidable as any. However, Fury is not taking the debutante lightly.
In their face-off interview with Carl Frampton, Tyson Fury explained that he was doing a doubly extended camp to prepare for Francis Ngannou's unpredictable boxing style.
“This is why I’m putting in [a] 12 week training camp instead of a six week camp, which I usually do for like Wilder, or um, Whyte or Chisora. I usually do six weeks. I’m giving Francis one hundred percent focus. And because he’s not a boxer and he’s coming from a different background, then I have to prepare more. Because with normal boxers I can prepare [gestures] it’s going to come from a same angle but with his awkward style, it might come from different directions so I have to be prepared for that. And that’s why I’m training as hard as I can, giving it a hundred percent respect.”
Fury is on a six-fight win streak in his unbeaten professional career and listed his recent wins against Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora as references.
Check out their complete face off below [3:30]:
Francis Ngannou believes he can win a decision against Tyson Fury
Francis Ngannou is backing himself to win on the scorecards against the favorite and the highly-experienced Tyson Fury.
He explained in the face off that his struggles and his sacrifices, including rejecting a lucrative UFC contract as a champion, have led him to believe in himself and his abilities.
Ngannou said:
"I really believe that everything [decision win] is possible and let me tell you something, from where I came from, everything I have done, nobody believed in me... If I wasn't big and scary, even my family wouldn't support me... because they thought I was losing my senses... But, I proved them wrong. If I didn't believe that I can do this, I wouldn't be leaving the UFC and go through all this stuff that I been through to get out of my contract."
Check out Francis Ngannou's full comments below: