The iconic fight between Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury happened on October 28th, 2023. Francis Ngannou felt like he had neutralized the fight with Tyson Fury for their high-profile bout because he was fighting as a lefty. The WBC heavyweight champ won the fight even though the left hook from Ngannou was pretty fierce. So ultimately Ngannou lost his debut fight in boxing but showed his fierce prowess to the boxing fans. 

All this was discussed in the Joe Rogan Experience episode 160, where ‘The Predator’ shared his tactic whenever he was getting exhausted.

Francis Ngannou exposed his secret

During episode 160 of JRE, ‘The Predator’ was asked about the iconic fight and his strategy going into it. Rogan pointed out how the athlete was using a southpaw rather than an orthodox style while fighting Fury. To clear the secret, Ngannou said, “I like to box like that, but I also thought it was a strategy. That would be a good strategy as well. Like basically in the Tyson Fury fight, I think Southpaw was a big component in that fight. Because every time I realize that every time that I switch to, southpaw he was thinking.”

However, he also switched back to the orthodox method when Fury was closing in on him. This is how he rested and took a break while fighting inside the ring. What happened, however, was in favor of Fury even though Ngannou had made the 10-round fight highly competitive. Ngannou even dropped Fury in the third round but failed to pull off an upset over his opponent. 

The next day during an interview, the generally orthodox fighter spoke about how he had switched to a southpaw stance which Fury also implemented in the fight. He said, “I was very aware of his speed and everything,” during his talk on his YouTube channel. He continued that Fury was strong and he respected his opponent’s power. As soon as Ngannou switched to southpaw, Fury did the same but the latter’s southpaw was not proficient according to ‘The Predator.’

He started to use southpaw more often and this is when he saw the gears in Fury’s head starting to turn. He said, “My southpaw [stance] was making him work, thinking, like, ‘What do I do? I’m more [proficient] in southpaw than him. My left hand go faster and good. I didn’t land because, I think, my footwork wasn’t sharp at that moment. I wasn’t bringing up back feet with me, so my backhand was coming up short. But it was fast and that’s how I was able to get [into] the fight.” Again with Anthony Joshua, Ngannou got knocked out cold, even though he was fighting well southpaw cost him another win. Anthony Joshua had used his opponent’s southpaw against him as well.

Anthony Joshua had opened up about his strategy against Francis Ngannou

Ngannou had always wanted to be a boxer and his dream came true during PFL. During his second bout, Joshua finished the fight with a second-round KO, and the two-time world heavyweight champion at that time won the match. According to Ben Davidson, who trained Joshua, Ngannou’s southpaw left the fighter exposed to his opponent.

Joshua has a high IQ when it comes to fighting and is a dangerous punching machine. So he set his opponent up and knocked him out many times. “We prepared for (Francis Ngannou to switch to southpaw),” Davison told The MMA Hour Show. He said that Ngannou would struggle to defend and if Joshua had done some things before to set the scene of how the fight would turn out then Ngannou would have a hard time defending himself.  Joshua had spotted the weak entrance and pounced on the opportunity for a KO.

In the first round, Ngannou was on the mat but he was conscious and in the second round, it was the end game as Ngannou’s formidable opponent started striking consecutively. Recently he was pictured with Joe Rogan at the Ways2Well clinic getting some stem cell treatments. Do you think Ngannou will fight especially after the fact that his son passed away recently in May? While Ngannou aced in UFC and showed his talent in boxing, his career in boxing is still uncertain. However, his coach Dewey Cooper, remains by his side supporting him throughout all his triumphs and adversities.

What are your thoughts about the iconic fight? Let us know in the comments below.