Francis Ngannou hits back at Eddie Hearn - "Who gives a s***?!"

24 October 2023 , 17:00

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Francis Ngannou hits back at Eddie Hearn - "Who gives a s***?!"

Francis Ngannou has fired back at Eddie Hearn for critiquing his boxing skills ahead of his crossover clash against Tyson Fury.

Ngannou makes his ring debut against heavyweight champion Fury this Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Matchroom Boxing boss Hearn, who once tried to set up a fight between Ngannou and Dillian Whyte, has been criticised for changing his tone about Ngannou's ability as a boxer.

Hearn complimented Ngannou's power during an interview earlier this year as he insisted the former UFC champion could beat the likes of Fury and Anthony Joshua if he connected with a clean punch. Those comments were very different from the assessment he gave about Ngannou's fight against Fury in an interview last week as he said Ngannou can't punch properly.

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"Don't be ridiculous... he can't punch properly, you'll see," Hearn said of Ngannou to Boxing Social. These guys, they're not strikers, they don't train to punch every day so no." The likelihood of Ngannou winning against Fury is like you [the interviewer] fighting me. I actually mean that. You could chin me, with my chin in the air, I could let you chin me and it wouldn't even have any effect on me, and that's the same for Ngannou against Fury."

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Ngannou was questioned about Hearn's change of stance but he refused to pay much attention to the promoter's comments by telling iFL TV: "Who gives a s*** what Eddie Hearn thinks? Who is Eddie Hearn? I don’t give a s***, he can keep that for him. This fight is happening and there is nothing [he can do] about it."

Ngannou vacated his UFC heavyweight title at the beginning of the year and parted ways with the promotion in the hopes of securing a big payday in boxing. After signing with rival promotion PFL, Ngannou got his wish in the summer as he agreed to a deal to fight Fury after the collapse of the Brit's now agreed on undisputed fight against Oleksandr Usyk.

Having recently admitted even his own family has doubted his plans, Ngannou insisted he always believed his boxing dreams would come true. "I always had faith, I didn't know it was going to happen but I had faith. I kept believing, you need to be a magician to always know stuff and I'm not. I just kept believing in something so much that it manifested itself," he added.

Harry Davies