Mid-summer 2023 «gave» the world of martial arts several meaningless, but hype fights at once. The end of June was marked by a clash in the social networks of the owner of Twitter, the first person of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, with the head of Meta (the company's activities (social networks Facebook and Instagram) are banned in Russia as extremist) Mark Zuckerberg — the American billionaires agreed to meet in the octagon, and the head of the Absolute Fighting championship (UFC) Dana White is already in full swing promoting the dream fight.
A couple of days ago we learned about another poster. A little closer to boxing and MMA fans, but still far from the true philosophy of sports.
Ngannou's greed did not kill
The reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight champion Briton Tyson Fury heard the pleas of former UFC title holder Francis Ngannou and said yes to the Cameroonian-born Frenchman. Finally, the dreams of the Predator from the African outback about easy millions have become a reality. For their sake, he left the belt of the main MMA promotion of the world and, refusing the sweetest contract in the history of the heavyweight division of the UFC, quarreled with White.
Almost forgot: Ngannou now has a contract with the PFL, which includes the ability to go and wave his fists in boxing. It turns out that Francis, obsessed with green bills, got his way? Yes. But it is unlikely that such a legacy is built by real legends. If Ngannou had thought of greatness, he would have dreamed not of a boxing adventure, but of Jon Jones, our Sergey Pavlovich or Anatoly Malykhin, who had returned to the game (if the ex-UFC champion had joined the Asian organization ONE).
There is no official confirmation on the Fury VS Ngannou fight yet (there is only a sterdown soaked in Spanish shame, which is attached above). However, considering that the parties have already commented on the ESPN insider, and foreign media journalists write about the organization of the fight as a fait accompli, we can say that a new meeting between boxing and MMA representatives will most likely take place. The fight is scheduled for October 28, the show should take the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh.
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"The most dangerous man on the planet! What will be done in the kingdom will echo around the world. Are you ready, Francis Ngannou?,” Fury wrote on social networks.
In general, Ngannou had many adequate options. Fury has one option, but which one! The fight for the title of absolute world heavyweight champion, the fight against the undefeated holder of the belts of the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Organization (WBO) and International Boxing Organization (IBO) Oleksandr Usyk. Both the Briton and the Ukrainian seemed to want to fight, but the managerial games spoiled everything — there was almost no hope of seeing this meeting in the ring.
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«Fury told Usyk:» You and your team deserve 30% of the fee. Usyk answered the bluff: “I’m ready, let’s distribute the fee 70 to 30, it’s not about money. But there is a condition: you must pay a million to Ukraine. It's not a donation, it's not charity, it's my condition.» Tyson did not want to pay Ukraine. And I will never tell you the reason, because it will destroy his image forever,» Usyk's manager Oleksandr Krasyuk said in an interview with Boxing Social.
By the way, the representative of Ukraine recently also announced the duel, officially. The duel against Briton Daniel Dubois will take place on August 26 in Wroclaw, Poland.
Unlike the Gypsy King, Usyk does not stoop to earn money and continues to defend titles from encroachments of real boxers.
It's only business
Both Ngannou and Fury agreed to an October business trip to Saudi Arabia for the money. Everything, there are no more reasons. Do not believe Ngannou, who talks about childhood dreams of wearing big gloves, do not start acquaintance with boxing from this fight, and even more so do not consider this fight to be competitive. The chances of the former UFC champion in a fight with one of the best heavyweights in history are approximately zero: the odds are 1.2 vs. 4.4 not in favor of the Predator.
On the other hand, Ngannou will not lose anything from the defeat. After all, he has already achieved the main goal (a space cash that is not comparable to $500-700 thousand for one fight in the UFC), the rest is expenses. Fury is just trying to make the most of his retirement. Perhaps a native of Greater Manchester is afraid of Usyk — with Ngannou, the opposite is true. There are many fewer risks (Tyson is taller and heavier, plus a larger arm span), and the fee may be even greater.
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"I have three thoughts on this . First of all, I don't care, it's none of my business. There is no benefit for me here. Second, why all of a sudden? Fury should fight for the title of absolute world champion. This is some kind of nonsense, and he is to blame for what is happening. Thirdly, if we are talking about business, then you can wish Fury good luck, he is doing his job. If he thinks it's right, what does my opinion matter? — this is how Anthony Joshua, the star compatriot of the Gypsy King, commented on the iFL TV YouTube channel.
Perhaps it’s hard to disagree with AJ.