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Tyson Fury & Francis Ngannou
Meet Face-To-Face In London
Lineal & WBC heavyweight boxing champion Tyson “The Gypsy
King” Fury and lineal heavyweight MMA king Francis Ngannou
met face-to-face today at the kickoff press conference for
the most anticipated combat sports event of the year.
Fury and Ngannou will collide in a 10-round boxing match on
Saturday, October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in an epic
showdown between two giants of their fields, which will mark
the opening of this year’s Riyadh Season. The fight will
take place under the official rules of professional boxing,
with the three ringside judges using the 10-point must
system.
This clash of heavyweight titans is promoted by Queensberry,
Top Rank and Ngannou’s promotional banner, GIMIK Fight
Promotions.
Fury-Ngannou will be available on pay-per-view in the United
States.
At today's press conference, this is what Fury, Ngannou and
Hall of Fame promoters Bob Arum and Frank Warren had to say:
Tyson Fury
“I’m absolutely honored to be fighting Francis. He’s going
to be a very, very good fighting man. You can see that he’s
massive. He’s in shape. He’s going to be a real challenge.
It’s something different for me. I’m used to boxing boxers
and boxing the head off of somebody. But fighting an MMA guy
who comes in with a different style is going to be
different."
“I can’t wait for it. It’s going to be an absolutely
fantastic event. I’m honored that I’m a part of it, and I’m
honored that Francis is a part of it. I’ve got to take my
hat off to Francis for his story, where he’s come from, the
fight, the grind, the determination and everything he’s put
into it to get to where he is.”
"I will give Francis the respect that he deserves as a
warrior, as a man and as a world champion. He's a big man.
He's very strong and powerful. And it's in my interest to
give it the 100 percent training in camp and bring in the
best sparring possible for me."
Francis Ngannou
"I am very excited. I am very happy. I have been dreaming of
becoming a boxer since I was a kid. And today, I’m not just
going to box; I’m going to box the guy at the peak of the
mountain. Usually, I would not pay attention to what is
going around. But this thing is so big that I can’t stop
thinking about it. History is going to be made."
"It’s something that I didn’t see coming, even though my
dream was always there. I always hoped for it to happen some
day. But I didn’t see it lay out this way as one of the
biggest events of the world. This is not just a fight. We
are going to open up Riyadh Season. So, it is a cultural
event that we are fighting on. And we’ll just make this
fight bigger and bigger. Nobody knows exactly what’s going
to happen, but what I do know for sure is that I’m going to
be out there hunting for that guy’s head to take it off. I
can guarantee that.”
Bob Arum
"This is a massive event around the world, but it’s
particularly massive in the United States because MMA has
become one of the most popular sports there and Francis
Ngannou is a legend in that sport. And Tyson has performed
so admirably in the United States over the past few years
that he is a massive figure in sports. The fact that they’re
both coming together is something that is creating
tremendous interest in the United States.”
Frank Warren
"This is a massive event. This is the biggest event I’ve
ever been involved with. It’s a crossover event. You’ve got
a guy who is the best in his discipline. He is the
heavyweight champion. And you’ve got the man, the lineal
champion, Tyson Fury, who has done everything you can ask
for in a fighter. He’s an undefeated champion, a brilliant
boxer and fighter. He can box or he can stand and trade with
you. This is going to be something special."
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