Francis Ngannou is capable of holding world heavyweight titles in boxing and MMA at the same time, says former UFC fighter Dan Hardy, who believes Ngannou not only deserved to win the decision against Fury but that he’d match up well against other top heavyweights including Anthony Joshua

Francis Ngannou can hold world titles in MMA and boxing simultaneously, says former UFC fighter Dan Hardy.

Ngannou was formerly a heavyweight UFC champion but was boxing professionally for the first time when he took on Tyson Fury in a 10-round non-title bout on Saturday.

Fury, the WBC heavyweight champion, was the overwhelming favourite yet Ngannou dropped him with a left hook and pushed him to the brink of defeat.

It leaves Ngannou with options to explore in both boxing and MMA. Hardy, who is also head of fighter operations for PFL Europe, believes that the Cameroonian is an athlete capable of combining the two sports.

“He of all people on the planet right now I would say could hold a heavyweight title in boxing and MMA simultaneously. That is an unthinkable thing,” Hardy told Sky Sports.

The WBC have already committed to ranking Ngannou in their top 10. Therefore, points out Hardy, “he is within punching distance of a title shot if he has a couple of good wins”

“Even Anthony Joshua. I feel like he can’t deal with the power of Ngannou. Both physiologically and psychologically. I feel like if AJ hit the canvas in the third round, he would not regroup in the way that Tyson Fury did,” Hardy said.

“The likes of Derek Chisora or Carlos Takam or Joe Joyce, who’s upright, places his punches like amateur boxing points scoring style, that’s a great match up for Francis Ngannou.

“So with the right match-ups, the right progress, I honestly think he could be the PFL heavyweight champ and the WBC champ at the same time.”

He is adamant that Ngannou’s performance against Fury does put him into the top tier of boxing’s heavyweight division.

“Stylistically Fury is probably the most difficult opponent that Ngannou could have faced. His height, his trickiness, his fight IQ, his footwork, his upper body movement, his ability to read his opponents and set them up and break them down is like very, very few heavyweights,” Hardy explained.

“This is really why the Usyk fight’s interesting because he is a supreme technician with a very high fight IQ. You look at Deontay Wilder and he’s got decent boxing fundamentals and he’s a puncher, and he’s a great athlete.

“You look at Anthony Joshua, he’s a good technician and he’s a good athlete. I don’t feel like he’s a good ‘fighter’, I don’t feel like he likes the fight.

“Derek Chisora, he loves fighting, he loves the chaos of the moment,” Hardy continued. “I don’t feel like he’s going to have the technical skills to play at range with the likes of Ngannou.”

Hardy believes that by lasting the distance, even if he didn’t get the split decision, Ngannou proved his capabilities as a boxer.

“Say if Fury didn’t get up in the third round, people would say: ‘Well we knew he was a big puncher, he landed a big punch.’ If the fight was going to end in Ngannou’s favour that was the way it was going to be. He almost exceeded people’s expectations in going the 10 rounds and in my opinion winning more rounds than Fury did,” Hardy said.

“So that furthers the conversation of yes he could fight AJ, yes he could fight Joyce, yes he could fight Chisora.

“Deontay Wilder’s a shootout until someone hits the canvas. That might be a back and forth, they might both go down a couple of times before we get a victor. There are holes in Deontay Wilder’s game that Fury doesn’t have.

You’ve also got think if they’d had that over 12 rounds, Fury most likely would have won the last two rounds because Francis was really struggling at that point with gas. It could have been far more one-sided in an 11th and 12th.

“But it was on Tyson to show up in shape and prove that he was the best boxer on the planet. I just don’t think he did it on the night. I don’t think he was motivated to do it because I feel like in his mind he was already in the Usyk training camp and Ngannou was a little speed bump and sparring session along the way.”

But he added: “I do feel like Tyson is the better boxer out of the two and the Usyk fight will prove who the best heavyweight on the planet is undisputed.”