Clash of the Titans: Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou
The speculation is finally over, Tyson Fury’s next opponent has been confirmed and it isn’t Oleksandr Usyk or Anthony Joshua. Instead of facing off against those boxing heavyweights, Fury will head into the ring in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 28th to face UFC legend Francis Ngannou.
In this article we cover everything you need to know about this hugely anticipated fight including details on how you can watch the action, the latest betting odds and the reaction of the wider fighting public to this match up.
How to Watch Fury vs Ngannou
The clash between these two fighting heavyweights will take place in Riyardh, Saudi Arabia but we expect the ring-walks to start around 10pm UK time. The fight will be screened on TNT Sports Box Office, the new name for BT Sports.
If you can’t be in front of the TV at that time to watch the action, you can tune in to TalkSPORT for live updates or BBC Radio 5Live for commentary of the clash.
The Betting Odds
At the time of writing the betting odds are still in flux but there is a clear trend – everyone is expecting Tyson Fury to win. We’ve trawled through almost every betting site you can think of and the longest odds that we found for a Fury win was 1/9 with the shortest coming in at 1/20.
That puts Fury’s implied probability of victory between 90 and 95%, which would suggest that Francis Ngannou’s chances of beating the Gypsy King are slim to none.
(Junior Dos Santos has his say on the Fury vs Ngannou fight.)
The Reaction to the Fight Announcement
Any bout in which the betting odds are so heavily skewed towards one fighter is bound to garner a huge amount of criticism and this fight is no different. Hopes were high in Britain and amongst the wider boxing community that Tyson Fury’s next fight would be a challenging and bruising encounter against Oleksandr Usyk.
Unfortunately a deal between the two fighters could not be reached with the sticking point disappointingly being money. The second best option for fighting connoisseurs would have been a Battle of Britain style bout between Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Again Fury’s financial demands coupled this time with Joshua’s apparent fall from grace put the brakes on what would have been a hotly anticipated clash. Understandably, Fury’s financial demands have led to him receiving an awful lot of criticism from the boxing world.
In 2022 Fury made £13 million in profit to add to an already huge bank balance of £43 million. The fact then that two potentially era defining fights have been scuppered because of Fury’s insistence on taking a bigger cut of the purse is particularly frustrating for boxing fans.
When news broke of Fury’s crossover fight against Ngannou it was greeted by a cacophony of criticism. Eddie Hearn who represents Anthony Joshua branded Fury as ‘greedy’, adding that he the Gypsy King was forfeiting a lasting legacy to earn an extra £10 million from a purse.
Ukranian fighter Usyk went one further, saying that as well as being greedy, Fury is simply afraid of fighting him and facing up to the prospect of losing a fight.
(Oleksandr Usyk had strong words when asked about Tyson Fury.)
The most vociferous criticism of Fury has come from UFC legend Chael Sonnen who has labelled the English fighter as a ‘scumbag’, not for financial ambitions but for choosing to face Francis Ngannou in the first place. Speaking to The Schmo Sonnen said:
“He has weapons and tools that other men can’t deal with if they’re not armed and he’s going to choose to use those to beat up a guy who’s at least 37 with no experience and is on one leg? That’s a bully and a scumbag. I would never do that to somebody. Jesse James made a lot of money and there’s hitmen that made a lot of money. I mean, there’s things that you can do but you own it. You’re a bully and a scumbag.”
Sonnen was referencing the knee injury that forced Ngannou away from the UFC back in January.
The Fight Breakdown
Usually at this point of an article we would break down both fighters styles and try to work out which would come out on top. In the case of this clash that seems largely redundant as Tyson Fury is going to win.
Whilst being one of the most legendary MMA fighters of all-time, Ngannou has no experience boxing at the highest level and is coming into this fight carrying a serious injury. The best outcome for Ngannou is that he lands a couple of solid hits and loses on points.
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