By Norm Frauenheim –
Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou defies description. Fight or fraud? Fish or foul? It depends on who’s doing the marketing and/or the mocking.
Sift through all of the possibilities, and there’s only one: Exhibition. That, and all of its interpretations, was on parade at a news conference Thursday in Riyadh.
At times, it was slapstick funny. Send in the clowns. At times, it began to redefine what it means to be cringe-worthy.
A cringe-worthy moment: Fury stripped off his jacket and vest for a bare-chested pose in a forehead-to-forehead stare-down with Ngonnou. His 59-year-old father, John Fury, quickly joined the strip show shedding his shirt and then stepping in front of the camera. Gently, John Fury – animated as in cartoon-like — had to be moved to one side. It wasn’t his show. At least, it’s not supposed to be.
All of the time, it was clear it was all about the cash.
There’s plenty of that being exhibited, although none of the numbers have been confirmed. Let’s just say that Fury’s income could make him an oil baron.
Speculation puts his payday at $60 million for an exhibition (Saturday, 2 pm ET/11 am PT, ESPN + pay-per-view), that looks a lot like a tune-up for a fight – a real one –projected for Dec. 23 against Ukrainian heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, also in Riyadh and also for an astonishing bankroll. Talk – and that’s all it is – puts that paycheck at $100 million.
For the Saudis, Fury looks to be another investment in their so-called sports wash. He’s another name, another possible diversion from the controversy surrounding the Saudi Kingdom’s reputation for repression. Their sports collection includes Phil Mickelson, Formula One auto racing, soccer and horse racing. A major addition would be Fury-Usyk, one of the biggest heavyweight fights in a fabled history.
“Tyson Fury is certainly the best heavyweight since Muhammad Ali and maybe ever,’’ said Fury’s 92-year-old American promoter, Bob Arum, also Ali’s former promoter.
But boxing isn’t golf. It’s a risk, one that maybe Mickelson wouldn’t even bet on. With one punch, everything can go wrong and often does.
Fury-Ngannou, at $79.99 pay-per-view, is being mocked precisely because it looks like a set-up for the reported December date with Usyk. The Saturday exhibition is not even listed under Fury’s BoxRec entry. If the reliable, go-to BoxRec doesn’t list it, it’s not a fight. Then, there’s Fury’s World Boxing Council heavyweight belt. It’s not at stake, although WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman was there with a specially-made belt, named “the Riyadh Champion belt.’’ That makes interim sound like a promotion.
The guess is that if the unlikely happens, the WBC belt would still be in play in December against Usyk, who holds the three other belts. Then, there’s Ngonnou, a UFC champion, a mixed martial arts fighter known for unprecedented power.
Even Mike Tyson, a celebrity cornerman for Ngannou, marvels at power that once defined him.
“Nobody takes a punch like Tyson Fury, but this is a different kind of power,’’ said Tyson, who wore a businessman’s suit to Thursday’s exhibit of Fury exhibitionists.
Tyson is there to help sell the show. He’s an intriguing angle. In 1988, John Fury named his son after Tyson, who had just begun his wild run through the heavyweight division.
Mike Tyson warns his namesake about Ngannou’s power. It’s a limb-breaker, he says.
“I saw him hit this guy,’’ Tyson said as he gestured with an imaginary blow to the jaw. “And the guy wound up breaking a leg or ankle or whatever.’’
But there are doubts about whether Ngannou, of Cameroon, will ever land that big punch. He’s a novice boxer. Video of him hitting the mitts showed power, but no precision or hand speed. Autumn could turn to winter in the time it takes Ngannou to land. The clever Fury could feint, duck, feint again and counter within that long moment. Leg-breaker? Yeah Ngannou might break his own in a wild miss.
The real measure of Ngannou’s feared power is also hard to judge. He’ll be wearing 10-ounce gloves for the first time. He executed 17 stoppages in mixed martial arts wearing four-ounce gloves.
In his memorable trilogy with Deontay Wilder, he was knocked down four times by a right hand as explosive as any in history. What would Wilder’s power have done had he been wearing four ounces, instead of 10? He and Fury probably would have never gone beyond the first fight and Fury’s 12th-round resurrection from a crushing knockdown.
There are other possibilities, hard to predict and all common to boxing’s familiar chaos. Fury knows them. He’s been there. In September 2019, he fought Swede Otto Wallin in a fight perceived to be a tune-up for his first rematch with Wilder. The heavily favored Fury won a debatable unanimous decision in Las Vegas. He also suffered a nasty cut to his right eye.
A Wallin punch caused the cut in the third round. Wallin would do further damage, enough to argue that the fight should have been stopped in his favor.
Fury needed a reported 47 stitches and time to heal. There was speculation that it would delay the second fight with Wilder. It didn’t. Wilder conceded it was risky, that the cut might rupture. But he never gave a clueless Wilder the chance to try, blowing him away in the seventh round February 2020 in Vegas.
Call it a warning, Exhibit A among risks to a Saudi bet that it’ll host some heavyweight history.
