UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou got the win last night, beating Cyril Gane by decision in Las Vegas, and the man many people say is the hardest hitting MMA fighter out there is still anxious to try his hand in the boxing ring. It’s no secret Ngammou wants a fight with a big name heavyweight; with Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua on his hit-list. Thus far, only Fury has expressed any real interest in sharing a ring with Ngannou, and last night, after Ngannou’s victory, Fury sent his would-be rival a message.
“Congratulations, Francis Ngannou. But if you want to make real money, come see The Gypsy King,” Fury wrote on social media.
One of the things Ngannou is angry about is the amount of money he has been earning in his UFC fights, the cash nowhere near as big as the kind modern day elite heavyweight boxers such as Fury can regularly pull in. But it isn’t just money that interests Ngannou – he really does want to get in there and see if he can down a world class heavyweight boxer.
“As I always say, boxing is in the back of my pocket. It’s something that I must do before the end of my career,” Ngannou said. “And right now, I’m really looking towards any opportunity to get that because it’s not like I had a lifetime here so I better start thinking about it.”
Now that he has beaten Gane, Ngannou has to decide if he will renew his UFC contract – for either one year or for a deal consisting of three fights. Ngannou did say a while back that any new contract “must contain a clause that allows me to box.” So we must now wait and see what happens. It might not happen this year, but maybe Ngannou WILL get in there with a top-class heavyweight before he’s through, as he says must be the case. Ngannou, though, needs some serious training in the art of The Sweet Science if he’s to have any chance against a Fury, a Wilder or a Joshua, so say the experts.
But Ngannou is sure to have read Fury’s message, and he may try his absolute best to land a fight with Fury and get his powerful hands on some of that “real money.”
How much would a Fury Vs. Ngannou crossover super-fight generate!