KEY POINTS

  • Tyson Fury is likely to face mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte next
  • Teddy Atlas stresses people want to believe that UFC's Francis Ngannou can match Fury
  • Ngannou wants to switch to boxing for money

Legendary trainer Teddy Atlas has an interesting insight about a fantasy crossover fight between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou.

Fury had decisively put an end to his dramatic rivalry with Deontay Wilder last weekend.

The stunning knockout victory saw Fury furthering his stock in the sport, and a wide array of big-name heavyweights are now yearning for a shot at “The Gypsy King.”

However, all points lead to a clash with the mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte.

While nothing is concrete yet for Fury, the interesting idea of the Brit taking on reigning UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou in a crossover fight was discussed by veteran boxing coach Teddy Atlas during a recent appearance on Submission Radio.

According to Atlas, the two primary reasons for the actualization of the Fury vs. Ngannou fight is “money” and entertainment.

Atlas reckoned that because people “want to be entertained,” the said fight seems to be making sense, but in reality, there’s no way Ngannou can knock Fury out in boxing.

“I think the making of that [Fury vs. Ngannou] is really all based on money,” Atlas assessed. “ 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.”

“If you’re gonna support this fight, you wanna believe that the big monster from Cameroon [Ngannou] can land a punch and knock the guy [Fury] cold, even though he’s an MMA fighter and not a boxer, ” he added. “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.”

Britain's WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury lands an early punch on the way to an 11th-round knockout of US challenger Deontay Wilder
Britain's WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury lands an early punch on the way to an 11th-round knockout of US challenger Deontay Wilder AFP / Robyn Beck

Should the fight between the two colossal heavyweights pushes through, Atlas predicted that it will “most likely not” a competitive match.

“Fury is a pretty complete package, besides having the advantage of years and years of boxing training,” he stated.

Even during his early days in the UFC, Ngannou has never been secretive about his love for boxing.

“At some point, I’m gonna go after that money,” Ngannou said on The MMA Hour. “I’m gonna go to that boxing for sure.”

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