MMA columnist Ariel Helwani has little doubt that Cameroonian ex-UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou (17-3) will continue his boxing career.
Expert speaksthat “I am 100% sure of this. Francis always dreamed of a boxing career. After all, he left Cameroon with the goal of becoming a professional boxer. After all, he trained in France in a boxing gym. But it so happened that he was advised to try his hand at MMA. At that time, he didn’t even know what it was – mixed martial arts. And since then, boxing has been like a splinter for him, which he still could not pull out. Now everything is different. Now he can afford whatever he wants.”
Helwani believes that “now Ngannou has reached a cosmic level of recognition. He is targeting Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. He’s in talks with Eddie Hearn and the rest of boxing’s top promoters. This is a very smart move. This is exactly what he was supposed to do. Therefore, the chances that he will continue his career in MMA are negligible. There is only one option – if suddenly some kind of promotion offers him just a fabulous contract. And so … I will be very surprised if the next time I see Ngannou in the octagon, and not in the ring.
At the end of January, it became known that Ngannou had begun negotiations with Fury, but Tyson’s fight with Usyk was not in danger. A little later, the legendary Oscar De La Hoya said that the fight between Ngannou and Fury is like in the days of Mike Tyson.
