Following his hugely impressive professional boxing debut, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou said this week that he is willing to wait for the opportunity to have a rematch with heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury.
Speaking to TMZ Sports, Ngannou made it clear that his focus with regard to boxing is on Fury, and as a result, he is fine with waiting until after Fury’s scheduled fight against Oleksandr Usyk to face him again:
“I would be willing to wait [for Fury to fight Usyk]. I know that they are going to fight, they had a contract already, so they are going to fight some time in February instead of Dec. 23, which is my fault. … I shouldn’t have cut him. He would’ve fought Dec. 23, and maybe we would’ve run it back early next year.”
Fury and Usyk were originally scheduled to clash in a bout to determine the undisputed world heavyweight champion on Dec. 23, but per ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, they fight is now expected to take place in February in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
As Ngannou alluded to, the fight had to be pushed back due to Fury suffering a cut above his left eye during his narrow victory over Ngannou.
While Ngannou has been a dominant force in MMA over the years, he never had a pro boxing fight before Oct. 28, so Fury was a massive favorite in their bout.
Ngannou pushed Fury to the limit and even knocked him down once, but the WBC heavyweight champion escaped with a split-decision victory and improved his career record to 34-0-1.
Fury vs. Usyk has long been the biggest potential dream match in boxing, as Usyk is the reigning WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight champion, and boasts a career mark of 21-0.
Something has to give when Fury and Usyk finally meet, and barring a draw or no contest, an undisputed heavyweight champion will be determined.
Ngannou has other opportunities available to him in boxing in the meantime, including a fight with former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, but he made it clear to TMZ that his sights are solely set on Fury, saying: “First of all, it’s too soon. Secondly, my focus, as boxing is concerned, is a rematch with Tyson. That’s the most important thing for me right now, everything else for boxing comes after.”
If Ngannou does fight again before a rematch with Fury, it will likely be inside a cage for the Professional Fighters League MMA promotion.
Ngannou signed with PFL in May after leaving UFC, but has yet to have his first fight for the company.
Given is performance against Fury, Ngannou is one of the hottest commodities in combat sports right now, but there is likely no bigger fight he can have than a boxing rematch with Fury based on how much better and closer their clash was than most expected.
