“Of Course I’d Want to Say Yes”: Mike Tyson Explains His Reason Behind Coaching Francis Ngannou Ahead of His Tyson Fury Bout

After a long months of struggling, Tyson Fury finally successfully negotiated a fight. Fury last fought against Derek Chisora back in December 2022. Since that time, he’s been on a long break, mostly because he couldn’t finalize a deal with any of the potential opponents. His deal with Oleksandr Usyk for an April fight collapsed. A similar thing happened later with Anthony Joshua as well. In the end, he shook hands with the former UFC fighter, Francis Ngannou, for a crossover boxing fight.

At first, many considered Ngannou to be an underdog and favored Fury for the fight. That was until Mike Tyson came into the picture. As per the reports, ‘Iron’ Mike agreed to train Ngannou for the fight. This created waves on the internet, and this addition turned the tables for the fight. Recently, in an interview, Mike Tyson revealed his reasons for taking up the offer to train Francis Ngannou.

Mike Tyson talks about training Francis Ngannou

The interview began with the question, what urged Mike Tyson to take up the offer to train Francis Ngannou? As the MMA fighter wanted to work with ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ for a while now, why did he take him under his wing now? Well, Mike Tyson gave a quite straightforward reply to this, as he stated that it was too much of a big event to ignore.

Tyson said, “How many times do you really get to be at an immortal event? How many in your life would you be able to do something with this magnitude? So of course I’d want to say yes to be a part of it.” However, this decision of Mike Tyson didn’t sit well with Tyson Fury, who vowed to defeat his pupil to prove his might. Even Fury’s father John Fury criticized Mike Tyson over this.

Both fighters, Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury are just almost a week away from their bout. Recently, they had a face-off where Ngannou talked about the importance of Mike Tyson’s presence in his training camp.

Francis Ngannou wants to emulate ‘Kid Dynamite’ against Tyson Fury

In the Face-off with Carl Frampton, recalling his journey from skepticism and humble beginnings, Ngannou radiated confidence. He has defied doubters throughout his career. He also refrained from predicting a knockout against Fury, recognizing his opponent’s intelligence. Later, he was asked by Frampton, whether he acknowledges the weight of Mike Tyson standing in his support for this fight.

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Ngannou said, “For me, it’s very important. He has always been very important.” Ngannou also stated how he’ll go into the fight through Mike Tyson’s point of view and emulate his style. He added, “ I’m the smallest guy inside, which is not something that has happened very often. So, I know that I need some techniques from somebody that has been in the smallest size and nobody better than Mike Tyson.”

It’s going to be one of the biggest crossover events in the history of combat sports, being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Who are you supporting in this matchup? Let us know in the comments section.

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