The father of Tyson Fury, John, as every good father would have done, has supported his son’s choice to fight Francis Ngannou instead of fighting a legitimate top-ten contender in the WBC heavyweight ranking and defending his WBC world crown.
Talks for an undisputed world heavyweight title fight between Fury and unified world champion Oleksandr collapsed earlier this year for an April 29th encounter at Wembley Stadium, London. However, despite the collapse of those talks, an offer was made to Anthony Joshua for a contest to be held at the same venue in September.
Joshua swiftly refused the provisional offer that was sent to his representatives by Fury’s management and promotional handlers.
Earlier this week it was announced that Fury will face Francis Ngannou in a non-title fight on October 28th in Saudi Arabia which had the blessing from the WBC. The contest will be fought under boxing rules alongside three scoring judges.
The prospect of the contest has been chastised by many within the sport, and a contender should have been selected from the WBC rankings to at least keep the title in circulation and being contested.
Father John, a larger-than-life character and often vocal figure within the Fury camp, has compared his son’s encounter with Ngannou to that of Muhammed Ali’s crossover fight with Antonio Inoki in 1976 and praised his son in the process for enabling this fight to happen.
John also mentioned that if Joshua had been in the position as Tyson, he too would have taken the contest with Ngannou if he had the opportunity to so.
Speaking to FreeBets Ireland, John said “It’s great. Good business, good pay-day and a great night, a fun night, and that is what Tyson needs. It’s a different format to conventional boxing, it’s a crossover fight, I just think it will bring a lot of eyes and a lot of bums on seats.
“How do you train for a man like Francis Ngannou? You can’t. You can’t get sparring for him, you can’t replicate him, it’ll be difficult to. So what he has got to do is take his best game in that ring and put his best foot forward. Whatever it is, exhibition rules, ‘no-knockdown’ rules, that is all rubbish. When those two gigantic men step into the ring and face each other, egos take over. People will be thrown on the floor, there will be a few elbows going in, should be a few cuts and bruises on either side, it will be a fun night.
“Absolutely, [AJ would have taken this fight whilst champion] and if they say not, they’re lying. Muhammad Ali done the same thing, he was lineal champion and he done the same thing. I remember it when I was a kid, we watched it, we couldn’t wait to watch it.”
