Tyson Fury never trained the way he normally would for his crossover boxing clash with Francis Ngannou, and nearly paid a heavy price for it.
Back in October 2023, Fury entered the ring as a massive favorite against the former UFC heavyweight champion. Most boxing experts expected “The Gypsy King” to cruise through the fight, with some predicting he would eventually stop Ngannou after a few entertaining rounds. Instead, Ngannou stunned the boxing world.
Competing in his professional boxing debut, the former UFC champion dropped Fury in the third round and pushed him to the limit across 10 rounds. Fury ultimately escaped with a split-decision victory, but many fans and fighters felt Ngannou had done enough to win.
Nearly three years later, Tyson Fury never trained for the bout with the same intensity he would have brought against a top-level boxer.
Speaking to ALF Global, Fury admitted he viewed the fight more as an exhibition than a serious contest.
“No, I didn’t not train for him because I didn’t think he was a good fighter,” Fury said. “I knew he was a good fighter, but to me, there are levels to boxing.”
“If I’m fighting a world champion, then in my mind, he’s a world champion. Everything’s good. But when you do an exhibition fight, play, it wasn’t really a fight, do you understand what I’m saying? It wasn’t, in my mind, a fight. It was just an exhibition, a game.”
Fury explained that while Ngannou treated the matchup as the opportunity of a lifetime, he approached it with a completely different mindset.
“To him, to Ngannou, it was, ‘Aaaah, big fight, I fight Tyson Fury!’ To me, it was play, a game, you know what I mean?”
Whether fans agree with Fury’s explanation or not, the fight remains one of the biggest surprises in recent combat sports history.
Ngannou entered the bout with zero professional boxing experience, yet he arguably outperformed one of the sport’s most accomplished heavyweights. His third-round knockdown instantly became one of the defining moments of the year and helped elevate his profile far beyond MMA.
However, Ngannou couldn’t replicate that success in his next boxing appearance. He suffered a devastating second-round knockout loss to former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in March 2024.
Since then, Ngannou has returned to MMA and reminded fans why he remains one of the most dangerous fighters on the planet, scoring dominant knockout victories over Renan Ferreira and Philipe Lins.
Despite the knockdown against Ngannou, Fury insists the former UFC champion doesn’t hit as hard as longtime rival Deontay Wilder.
“Ngannou’s a strong guy, big guy, but he doesn’t punch like Wilder,” Fury said. “No way.”
Fury knows a thing or two about Wilder’s power. Their first fight in 2018 produced one of boxing’s most iconic moments when Wilder seemingly knocked Fury unconscious in the final round, only for the Brit to rise from the canvas and finish the fight.
As for Fury, he has bounced back well after losing two title fights to Oleksandr Usyk. The future Hall of Famer has since earned victories over Arslanbek Makhmudov and Mariusz Wach, proving he still has plenty left in the tank.
