Tyson Fury faces Francis Ngannou in a major combat crossover in Saudi Arabia tonight. The clash sees the French-Cameroonian former UFC heavyweight champion making his boxing debut. The unbeaten Fury will not put his WBC strap on the line in the fight, which is a 10-round bout, but is set to make £40million this evening with Ngannou taking home roughly £10m.
Fury, 35, weighed in at 19st 8lbs yesterday which was four pounds heavier than his opponent, who is two years older than him. Mixed martial artist Ngannou is 17-3-0 in MMA but has never stepped into a boxing ring competitively before, while the unbeaten Fury is 33-0-1.
Ngannou, who was the UFC’s heavyweight title-holder for two years before being stripped this January, has not fought since January 2022 when he defeated Ciryl Gane by unanimous decision. He is currently signed to the Professional Fighters League (PFL) but is yet to compete in the promotion. Fury’s last fight was last December when he defeated Dereck Chisora by TKO.
The Gypsy King had since been expected to fight Oleksandr Usyk in an undisputed fight but will not face the Ukrainian until likely next year, some time before March. He will return to the Middle East for that fight. And in the meantime, British pugilist Fury will test himself against the powerful punch of Ngannou in Riyadh.
Express Sport provides live coverage of Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou below…
