The promotion has started for the Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury boxing match.
On Wednesday, the PFL heavyweight and heavyweight boxing champ on went a round on social media, trading insults one day after the announcement of their showdown in Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Fury led the offensive with another trademark selfie video, telling Ngannou, “You big stiff dosser, you’re getting knocked out.” (Dosser is slang for a homeless person.)
In response, Ngannou posted one of the more unflattering moments of Fury’s career, a knockdown in his first fight with Deontay Wilder where he was laid out en route to a split draw against “The Bronze Bomber.”
Ngannou’s booking against Fury lit up the internet on Tuesday after more than one year of callouts, verbal jousting and promotional interference. Fury originally challenged Ngannou to a boxing match in four-ounce MMA gloves, prompting a flurry of press on the possibility of a cross-sport showdown. But Fury’s boxing career – and Ngannou’s status then as a UFC fighter – kept the fight from materializing.
Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champ, departed the industry-leader as a free agent this past December and earlier this year announced the MMA component of his next chapter as a fighter. But until this week, his dreams of boxing Fury remained just that. A fight with Wilder momentarily appeared closer to happening when the former heavyweight boxing champ showed up at a PFL event and welcomed an MMA/boxing tradeoff with “The Predator.”
For now, it’s unclear whether Ngannou vs. Fury will be a professional or exhibition bout. But it is no longer a pipe dream, and the heavyweights are putting in promotional roadwork.
