By Elliot Worsell
REGARDLESS of the rights and wrongs, there is something rather beautiful and poetic about Francis Ngannou, a man who this time last year had never had a boxing match, suddenly becoming the most in-demand and interesting heavyweight boxer on the planet. It is, in so many ways, exactly what the heavyweight division deserves for stalling and for preventing countless great fights from happening for so long. It is what you get for squeezing the competition out of a sport and making everything about money. It is what you get when greed is seen as a valuable attribute.
With risk deemed minimal, but the financial upside of fighting him huge, Ngannou, a 37-year-old mixed martial artist, has somehow become a sort of middleman for boxing’s heavyweight division; the mutual friend; the therapy dog; the voice of reason. Without him, after all, we would not have seen Tyson Fury, the heavyweight champion, box at all last year. Not only that, were it not for Ngannou, who on earth would Anthony Joshua fight next?
Indeed, as the rest struggle to put their egos to one side and take the necessary risks to cement their legacy, Ngannou, a novice with nothing to lose, has entered the sport and shown the others how to do it. He has, within the space of just six months, agreed to fight both Fury and Joshua, two UK heavyweights who have so far failed to share a ring, and, because of his complete lack of ego and fearlessness when it comes to the prospect of defeat, become a refreshing counterpoint.
That doesn’t mean the idea of Ngannou fighting Fury and Joshua within six months having had no prior boxing experience is any less weird or worrisome (for the sport), but you certainly can’t fault him. In fact, rather than pick holes in this most unusual of heavyweight careers, we should instead look upon Ngannou as an example of what can be achieved when a desire to fight the best trumps a desire to dupe an audience with an inflated record. His age, of course, has had a lot to do with the speed with which he is moving, as well the obscene paychecks coming from men in the Middle East, yet still we should appreciate how easy it seems for Ngannou to say “yes” to fights against heavyweights notoriously risk adverse and difficult at the negotiating table.
As a result of this ambition, Ngannou, following just 10 professional rounds, has become one of the most popular heavyweight boxers in the world. Better yet, he has successfully made himself a target for other heavyweights; the one piece of the heavyweight jigsaw the rest of them, all blinded by their own self-importance, have been unable to locate for all their trying, yelling, and petulant name-calling.
Here’s how he did it.
1) That knockdown
There can be no doubt that the image of Ngannou standing over Tyson Fury during round four of what was supposed to be a mismatch of the freakshow variety will have done more for Ngannou’s heavyweight career and selling power than anything else. A true bolt from the blue, nobody saw it coming, either before the fight, when Ngannou’s chances were rightly ridiculed, or even during the fight, despite Ngannou’s surprisingly positive start. When it then happened, though, it quickly became easy to see how; after all, Ngannou, irrespective of his limitations, had by that stage unsettled Fury and was growing more in confidence with each wild but dangerous swing of a right or left hand. It would be a stretch to say the moment was coming, granted, but Ngannou’s knockdown in round four was anything but flash or fluke.
Francis Ngannou knocks down Tyson Fury (Getty Images)
2) His story
As inspirational a story as any in today’s heavyweight division, Ngannou, as well as being a breath of fresh air in a competitive sense, also offers hope that good things happen to good people – sometimes. A big man born and raised in the tiny village of Batié, Cameroon, Ngannou found himself working in one of the mountainous region’s sand quarries at the tender age of 10. Sixteen years after that, meanwhile, he headed for France with the aim of pursuing a career in professional boxing, only to end up being jailed for two months in Spain for illegally crossing the border by sea. When then later reaching Paris, he did so with nothing – no money, no friends, and nowhere to live – and for a time was forced to live homeless on the streets. This led to a chance meeting with Francis Carmont, a mixed martial artist, who in turn introduced him to Fernand Lopez, another Cameroonian living in France, and the MMA Factory. It was there Ngannou’s MMA journey would begin.
3) His pulling power
While it is always good to feel loved by a promoter, there can, in 2024, be no better feeling for a boxer than being loved by Saudi Arabia, an entire nation. That is just one of the many privileges Francis Ngannou currently enjoys; one that promises to make him a fixture of boxing out there, regardless of whether he wins or loses. Thanks to this privilege, too, Ngannou is earning like never before and is also now in a position to ignore boxing traditions, and rankings, and, like some spoiled kid born to scared parents, simply chase all the fights that appeal to him and make most (financial) sense. He has, in being blessed by the Middle East in this way, been granted the golden ticket to the chocolate factory and then been fast-tracked, taking the mother of all shortcuts to get there.
Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
4) His physical strength
As easy as it is to just focus on his heavy hands and the damage they did to Fury in October, one aspect of Ngannou’s game that should not be overlooked is his physical strength when grappling on the inside. This, of all the things we ignored pre-fight, was perhaps the biggest one, particularly given his extensive history in mixed martial arts, a sport in which physical strength and grappling ability is considered one of the most vital facets. Indeed, it was only once the fight was over – and we had seen Ngannou essentially manhandle Fury, a much bigger human being, for 10 rounds – that I remembered the numerous boxers who have used mixed martial artists for sparring over the years. They would do so not as a courtesy, or out of the kindness of their heart, but because in the end a mixed martial artist, on account of the nature of their sport, possesses a strength a boxer, given the nature of theirs, will rarely ever match.
5) His toughness
In addition to his strength on the inside, we must look at Francis Ngannou’s durability and respect this as another reason why (a) he will forever be watchable as a novice heavyweight and (b) his technical limitations are not necessarily fatal. The truth is, there was nothing Ngannou did against Fury during their 10 rounds that was especially clever, defensively or offensively, yet still he remained in punching range and dangerous due to the sheer inability of Fury to either deter or put a dent in him. This ensured Ngannou could take chances other heavyweights, even tough ones like Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora, were not able to take against Fury in recent times. It also meant Ngannou could plant seeds of doubt in the mind of a heavyweight champion who is typically in control of things due to his size, long arms, and sheer presence. In answer to all that, Ngannou simply shrugged and said, “So what?” He then continued marching forward.
Ngannou throws his hook towards Fury (FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)