28 October 2023 , 12:00
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Francis Ngannou will be wealthy man regardless of the result of his fight against Tyson Fury tonight - but he won't be leaving Saudi Arabia with his rival's belt - even if he knocks him into next week.
Ngannou is making his professional boxing debut tonight against a man who has lived and breathed the sport since before he could walk. He is a huge underdog and is widely accepted to have only one route to victory - landing his huge right hand on Fury's unguarded chin, something of an unlikely prospect.
And because of his lack of experience, Ngannou is not ranked by the WBC and so cannot take home Fury's title - but will surely still call himself the lineal boxing world champion if he pulls off the seismic upset. And regardless, the former UFC heavyweight king will pocket at least £10million for his troubles.
Ngannou would also be upsetting Fury's plan to return to Saudi Arabia to take on Oleksandr Usyk in just eight weeks' time. The rivals finally agreed terms for their undisputed fight last month and the Ukrainian will be ringside tonight praying Fury avoids a freak injury - or KO. But should Ngannou pull off the impossible, confusion reigns over whether there is a rematch clause.
Fury this week insisted there is not, telling The MMA Hour : "As we stand today, there's no rematch clause either way. If he knocks me out cold on Saturday night I'll have to be begging him like this 'please give me a rematch'. I hate rematches, rematch clauses have tied my career up for so long and cost me a lot of millions of dollars in court cases.
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"I always say we don't need a rematch, if the first fight is good then boom, participants would surely want a rematch. If it's a s*** fight then it's not deserving of a rematch. So I hate when champions do the clause, I know why it is because it's a double payday but they go into the fight and it's already announced 'there's a rematch clause'.
"It takes all the emphasis off the first fight, nobody cares about the first fight, it don't mean s*** because if there's a rematch clause anyway then let's see who wins the second one because that's the one that really counts. I believe in these massive fights it was one of the stumbling blocks for me and Usyk the last time."