Tyson Fury believes Francis Ngannou has similar chance to previous opponents
Tyson Fury believes that Francis Ngannou has the same chance that Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora did against him when they fight on Saturday night
The world heavyweight champion will face his MMA equivalent in Riyadh this weekend, but many have been critical of the matchup, which pits a debuting boxer against arguably the best of his generation. Fury has even already announced his next move, with a deal signed for him to face Oleksandr Usyk as soon as December 23.
However, the Brit feels that he has as much chance of tasting defeat as any of his other title defences, noting that there were some who picked Whyte to beat him when they squared off last April. His trilogy with Chisora in December was controversial, but did see him go to the tenth with the ageing contender.
"I think he's about level to the other heavyweights that I've fought," Fury told The MMA Hour last night. "Big strong heavyweight with a puncher's chance. That's all they ever are to me, big strong guys with a puncher's chance, I've never really met anybody who can outskill me in boxing or even come close to matching my skill.
"But all heavyweights have a puncher's chance, he always has that, but whoever I would be fighting I would be 100 per cent confident and call him a bum and a sausage and he ain't worth a carrot and he's going to get knocked out. So yeah, there's nothing different here."
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And the Brit insisted that he will maintain his standard pre-fight trash talk when the pair face off tonight at their final press conference and tomorrow at weigh-ins. He even mocked his rival's physique, claiming that he isn't mentally strong enough to go shirtless in the promotion.
"I think Ngannou has got a kind of mental problem with taking his top off," Fury continued. "Even though we think he looks in shape I think he's got body dysmorphia and thinks he's fat when he's ripped. So that could play a massive part in this fight; him thinking he's fat and being embarrassed to take his top off in public.
"He never gets his top off and if I had a body like that I'd have my top off in the rain, snow, every day. I've got my top off all the time and I'm fat as f***, so imagine if I had Francis' body."