Editor’s note: This article was originally published at MMAJunkie.com.
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Francis Ngannou will bring a degree of skepticism with him into the fight week of his fight against Tyson Fury.
About a month away from this giant fight that’s set to go down in Saudi Arabia, Ngannou (0-0) believes Fury (33-0-1) has cheated in his previous fights by manipulating his boxing gloves and making them smaller and less padded, which has made his punches more punishing.
That’s why Ngannou will request to double-check the gloves Fury will use to make sure there’s a level playing field.
“Tyson’s gloves,” Ngannou said on the “The JRE MMA Show” with Joe Rogan. “He’s very tricky with his glove. I think he’s cheating. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about his gloves, that his gloves have no protection.”
Ngannou says he has heard complaints from some of Fury’s previous opponents, and that’s what’s made him suspicious about potential tampering of the gloves.
“Even when he fought Deontay Wilder, he complained about that,” Ngannou said. “Derek Chisora complained about that. And that’s what we’re talking about with the team, the U.K. commission. …
“We’re going to get there, and we need every glove to get checked. You don’t tell me about this, commission. All the gloves get to be checked. If you want us to fight bareknuckle, let’s go bareknuckle, but don’t give me 10-ounce gloves.
“And he wears eight- or six-ounce gloves because he has no protection.”
Rogan offered pushback on Ngannou’s claims, stating that Fury’s style of flinging punches makes it appear as if his gloves have less padding than is actually present. Ngannou acknowledged this point, but said his team will still check closely to be sure there is no foul play.
The scheduled 10-round fight will be sanctioned, although Fury’s WBC heavyweight title won’t be on the line.
Fury has yet to compete in 2023. The last time he defended the WBC belt was in December 2022, a TKO win over Derek Chisora in London.
Ngannou has never competed in a boxing match, but has vast experience in MMA. Ngannou has 20 professional MMA fights, the last one a unanimous decision win for the UFC heavyweight title over Ciryl Gane in January 2022.
After almost a full year of sitting out, Ngannou vacated his title and left the promotion earlier this year. In May, Ngannou signed a groundbreaking deal with the PFL that gave him equity and a leadership role in the promotion, as well as the freedom to pursue boxing.
