Former two-weight world champion and ProBox TV’s Paulie Malignaggi believes that the inclusion of Mike Tyson as part of Francis Ngannou’s training team will not make any difference as he steps into the ring to face WBC heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury this upcoming Saturday.
Fury and Ngannou will go head to head in Saudi Arabia in a contest that does not see Fury’s WBC world heavyweight title at stake and sees Ngannou make his professional boxing debut after a fruitful and successful spell in the UFC.
Upon the announcement of the contest between Fury and Ngannou, it was revealed by Ngannou and his handlers that former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson would be the lead trainer for Ngannou as the preparations to face Fury commenced. Naturally, such a prominent figurehead like Tyson will intrigue those not so well-versed in the sport and generate interest in Ngannou and the event.
Malignaggi believes that Tyson will ultimately bring no impact on proceedings when Ngannou steps through the ropes to face Fury, believing that Tyson’s involvement is purely for marketing purposes to generate interest in the contest and to improve PPV sales.
“Mike Tyson will have absolutely no impact on Francis Ngannou whatsoever. Absolutely none. Tyson is there as a headline maker to sell more pay-per-views. The MMA fans, unfortunately are the least intelligent in all of professional sports,” Malignaggi said to OLBG.
“Because of that, they will think the Mike Tyson situation will make a difference and spur Ngannou on. When in reality, anyone who understands real boxing knows that to use Tyson’s style, you have to be short. The head bobbing that Tyson does that’s not for tall guys.
“It’s actually counterproductive for tall guys. Ngannou is shorter, but not that much shorter, and honestly, I don’t think Ngannou has the quickness of a small guy to use Tyson’s tactics on the way in. When you’re as big as Tyson Fury, he’s just going to do what Lennox Lewis did and push their head down if they get too close.
Malignaggi concludes that despite the one-sided nature of what the contest is likely to play out as he is happy that Ngannou will be financial as the two-weight world champion took a swipe at UFC supremo Dana White for short-changing fighters in regards to paying fighters their market value.
“If Ngannou does get by his defences with that head movement, he’ll just push his head down and the ref will break it. I’m happy for Ngannou that he’s getting paid because Dana White is an absolute pig for not paying their fighters what they’re worth. But I think Ngannou is going to end up taking a beating for the money.”
