By: Sean Crose
On Tuesday afternoon, the World Boxing Council released the following statement on social media: “Mauricio Sulaiman said that Tyson Fury has received special permission from the WBC to fight Francis Ngannou because there is no main opponent. which consciousness. He mentioned that Fury tried to finish fights with Ruiz, Joshua and Usyk but failed to reach an agreement.” Sulaiman, for those who don’t know, is the President of the WBC. Of course, this means that WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury doesn’t have to worry about being stripped of his belt for fighting former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on October 28 in Saudi Arabia.
In normal time, Fury will fight another professional fighter in his next bout. However, this is not a normal time. Ever since Floyd Mayweather defeated UFC star Conor McGregor in a super hot boxing bout in 2017, notable mixed martial artists have entered the ring to take on some of the boxing’s biggest names. him – and with a lot of money. However, the money isn’t just good for former UFC stars. Fury could make more money facing Ngannou than he would by fighting heavyweight boxer Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. For Fury-Nganou will likely appeal to boxing fans as well as mixed martial arts fans – although not everyone is raving about the upcoming fight.
Kevin Iole, who reports on both boxing and mixed martial arts for Yahoo!, Fury-Nganno declares “a mismatch of epic proportions, a world champion that ranks high on the weight list meets a guy with no boxing matches, amateur or professional. .” Sure, even though he’s a pretty successful and tough mixed martial artist, Ngannou is a complete boxing novice. And those who point out that boxing and mixed martial arts are two distinct disciplines are clearly right to do so.
However, there is little doubt that Fury-Nganou will bring significant attention and money. While it’s obviously not going to be a major event like Mayweather-McGregor, it will likely reduce a large number of pay-per-view purchases. With that said, purists – at least those on the boxing front – have this year seen as high-profile bouts between legitimate opponents. And while they have no doubt Fury will face Ngannou rather than Usyk this summer, these purists have big fights like Terence Crawford-Errol Spence and Stephen Fulton-Nasoya Inoue in front of.
