Francis Ngannou might be one of the most dangerous strikers in MMA, but Teddy Atlas says the UFC heavyweight champion stands little to no chance against WBC heavyweight champ Tyson Fury in the boxing ring.
The renowned boxing trainer and analyst said Fury, who has been training boxing since he was just 12-years-old, would have an ‘insurmountable edge’ over Ngannou but believes there would be huge interest in the matchup due to both fighters’ respective styles.
“I think the making of that is really all based on money,” Atlas told Submission Radio in a recent interview (h/t MMA News). “Let’s be honest with ourselves, if it’s not gonna be based on MMA rules, if it’s gonna be with boxing rules, the guy who’s been boxing since he was 12 years old, the guy who’s had 200 amateur fights, the guy who’s trained in a gym for all those years to be a top boxer, he’s gonna have a huge edge, maybe an insurmountable edge to be quite frank”.
“We probably fool ourselves because we want to fool ourselves,” he added. “We want to be entertained, we want to believe it. If you’re gonna support this fight, you wanna believe that the big monster from Cameroon can land a punch and knock the guy cold, even though he’s an MMA fighter and not a boxer. How often does a guy who’s not as developed, not nearly as developed as the top fighter, how many times have we really seen where he’s got a puncher’s edge, not too often. It would be a big money fight. Would it be competitive? Most likely not. Fury is a pretty complete package, besides having the advantage of years and years of boxing training”.
Fury would undoubtedly have a massive edge over Ngannou in the boxing ring but ‘The Predator’ would have the undeniable advantage inside the cage.
Fury, 33, previously flirted with a move to MMA after training with Liverpool’s own Darren Till in 2019. He promised to ‘roast’ Ngannou following the Cameroonian’s knockout win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 260.
“We probably fool ourselves because we want to fool ourselves,” he added. “We want to be entertained, we want to believe it. If you’re gonna support this fight, you wanna believe that the big monster from Cameroon can land a punch and knock the guy cold, even though he’s an MMA fighter and not a boxer. How often does a guy who’s not as developed, not nearly as developed as the top fighter, how many times have we really seen where he’s got a puncher’s edge, not too often. It would be a big money fight. Would it be competitive? Most likely not. Fury is a pretty complete package, besides having the advantage of years and years of boxing training”.
Fury would undoubtedly have a massive edge over Ngannou in the boxing ring but ‘The Predator’ would have the undeniable advantage inside the cage.
Fury, 33, previously flirted with a move to MMA after training with Liverpool’s own Darren Till in 2019. He promised to ‘roast’ Ngannou following the Cameroonian’s knockout win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 260.
Fury recently KO’d Deontay Wilder in an epic trilogy bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ngannou, on the other hand, is preparing to defend his heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 on January 22.
