Francis Ngannou Vows to Make Tyson Fury ‘Hit the Canvas’ in October Boxing Match

Francis Ngannou has been thinking about a potential fight against boxing champion Tyson Fury for quite some time now.

“I’ve been studying him for the past three years,” Ngannou said in a recent interview with TMZ Sports. “I’ve been to some of his fights.”

The former UFC champion will get to test his skills against Fury when they square off in a boxing match on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. Ngannou has notably been working with Mike Tyson in preparation for the bout.

“I think my feet [are] the most [improved],” Ngannou said. “All the footwork, that power transition. I think that’s been very amazing.”

Fury was dismissive of that relationship in a post on social media.

“It’s good to see you’re training hard [Francis Ngannou], and you’re going to need to,” Fury wrote. “It doesn’t matter if you’re being trained by the great Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali or Bruce Lee. You’re going to get KO’d in the Kingdom.”

Ngannou isn’t especially concerned with his opponent’s trash talk. “The Predator” is confident that he’ll be able to let the power in his hands do the talking.

“What doesn’t matter is what he says. What matters is what’s gonna happen in Saudi and in Saudi, he’s gonna hit the canvas. I can tell you that,” Ngannou said. “He’s gonna hit the canvas. I don’t know how you call that, but I know that he’s going to the canvas. He’s good at [getting] back up but we’re gonna find out how good he is. But he’s gonna hit that canvas.”

Ngannou hasn’t had a fight of any kind since he took a unanimous decision over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022. He has since signed with the Professional Fighters League, with his debut expected next year. Ngannou indicated that his first PFL bout could come in the first quarter of 2024.

“I’ll see you in the PFL in February or March,” he said.