24 October 2023 , 18:58
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Francis Ngannou has admitted he didn't bring in sparring partners to try to replicate Tyson Fury ahead of their heavyweight showdown.
Former UFC champion Ngannou will make his boxing debut against the best heavyweight on the planet in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night. But he insists it won't be the mismatch in the desert the fighting world is predicting.
“I’m not going in there to play Fury’s game, I’m going in there to play my own game," said Ngannou. "My training was based on how I am going to fight, I didn't try to replicate what he will do. Training was tough but it went well, I’m aware of my lack of experience in boxing. It’s my first fight but I am a man of challenge.
“The good thing is I have boxing fundamentals. Even before MMA, I did amateur boxing so coming back into it my reflexes were more styled to MMA. In the past four months, I was focused on trying to get my boxing style back. It was quite different from my usual training camp.
"After this they will say Francis Ngannou is the damn man. This is the idea, before everything. After anything that could happen on Saturday, I’m already the second baddest man on the planet. I’m just aiming for the first past.
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Fury, who could return to the ring as soon as December 23 to face Oleksandr Usyk in their long-awaited undisputed fight, has no qualms about going toe-to-toe with the puncher from Cameroon. "When he feels this big right hand he won't be winning very much," he said. "I can stand and trade with anyone. I stood and traded with Deontay Wilder and I traded with Wladimir Klitschko so I can trade with this little b****.
"I've beaten the biggest puncher in boxing and knocked him out. I might not let the ugly man touch me once; bums brawl, don't they? But what I can do is a gift from God, not many people can do what I can do."