A fight between Deontay Wilder and Francis Ngannou hasn’t gone away and is instead apparently still a thing. Ngannou, who is 0-2 as a boxer; the MMA star having lost a close, even controversial decision to Tyson Fury and later being crushed in a couple of rounds by Anthony Joshua, spoke on the Ariel Helwani Show yesterday, and he said a boxing fight with Wilder “is gonna be soon.”
Ngannou, who returned to winning ways in the cage after his brutal loss to Joshua, said things are being worked on right now as far as him boxing Wilder.
“Yes, I [am pursuing it],” Ngannou said of a fight with Wilder. “We haven’t engaged personally, but it’s gonna be soon. We’re setting some things up, but I keep training. I’m training. I would say [it’s my preferred fight in boxing and in MMA].”
Wilder still open to the crossover clash
Wilder, last seen returning to winning ways by stopping Tyrell Herndon back in June, this after suffering back-to-back losses at the hands of Joe Parker and Zhilei Zhang, has in the quite recent past expressed definite interest in taking a fight with Ngannou; two fights, in fact – one in boxing, one in MMA. Let’s see if these two punchers do actually collide now.
Ngannou is 38, while former WBC heavyweight champ Wilder, who is currently 44-4-1(43) turns 40 in October. However, despite both men being past their best, Wilder especially, fans would for sure tune in if the two did get it on.
Why fans would still watch Wilder–Ngannou
It wouldn’t be pretty, and Wilder, as faded as he seems to be, would be a big favourite to defeat Ngannou in the ring – but it could prove to be a whole lot of fun seeing these two giants slug it out.
And someone would get knocked out, that’s a given.