Francis Ngannou will bring a degree of skepticism with him into the fight week of his boxing superfight against Tyson Fury.
About a month away from this giant fight that’s set to go down in Saudi Arabia, Ngannou (0-0) believes Fury (33-0-1) has cheated in his previous fights by manipulating his boxing gloves and making them smaller and less padded, thus hitting harder. That’s why Ngannou will request to double-check the gloves Fury will use to make sure they’re on an even playing field.
“Tyson’s gloves,” Ngannou said on the “The JRE MMA Show” with Joe Rogan. “He’s very tricky with his glove. I think he’s cheating. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about his gloves, that his gloves have no protection.”
Ngannou says he’s heard complaints from some of Fury’s previous opponents, and that’s what’s made him suspicious about potential tampering of the gloves.
“Even when he fought Deontay Wilder, he complained about that,” Ngannou said. “Derek Chisora complained about that, and that’s what we’re talking about with the team, the U.K. commission and the gloves.
“We’re going to get there, and we need every glove to get checked. You don’t tell me about this, commission. All the gloves get to be checked. If you want us to fight bareknuckle, let’s go bareknuckle, but don’t give me 10-ounce gloves, and he wears eight or six-ounce gloves because he has no protection.”
Rogan offered pushback on Ngannou’s claims, stating that Fury’s style of flinging punches makes it appear as if his gloves have less padding than is actually present. Ngannou acknowledged his point, but said his team will still check closely to be sure there is no foul play.
The boxing match between Fury and Ngannou is scheduled for 10 rounds, and it’s a fully professional boxing match, although Fury’s WBC heavyweight title won’t be on the line.
Fury has yet to compete in 2023. The last time he defended the WBC belt was in December 2022, a TKO win over Derek Chisora in London.
Ngannou has never competed in a boxing match, but has vast experience in MMA. Ngannou has 20 professional MMA fights, with the last one being a unanimous decision win for the UFC heavyweight title over Ciryl Gane in January 2022.
After almost a full year of sitting out, Ngannou vacated his title and left the promotion earlier this year. In May, Ngannou signed a groundbreaking deal with the PFL that gave him equity and a leadership role in the promotion, as well as the freedom to pursue boxing.
For more on the fight, check out MMA Junkie’s hub for Fury vs. Ngannou.
