World heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury’s next fight will be his last. He told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that he will soon leave the boxing ring for the final time. However, he is not ruling out a much-anticipated crossover fight against UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou.
Tyson Fury Announces Retirement, Teases Ngannou Crossover Fight
“This is the final countdown of ‘The Gypsy King.’ Hollywood awaits.
This is my retirement fight. 100,000 people at Wembley, all British world title fight. Return of the Mack after four years to the U.K. This is it, going out on a high. Retiring on top.
Two-time world heavyweight champion and I’ll have made eight defenses of the lineal championship. Never to lose a fight. To go down as only the second heavyweight in history to retire unbeaten. Me and Rocky Marciano.”
Both Fury and Ngannou have hyped a potential crossover fight of late. Ngannou’s desire to box has become a sticking point in his ongoing contract negotiations with the UFC. For Tyson Fury, that’s not a real boxing fight, instead a “special” fight against a thrilling opponent.
“I don’t count that as a real boxing fight.
That’s not a boxing fight. That’s gonna be a ‘special’ fight. That will be in a cage in four-ounce gloves, in Las Vegas, at the Raiders Stadium.
I will have retired from competitive, championship boxing and I’ll be ready to do the crossover fights completely. He won’t be the UFC heavyweight champion anymore, I won’t be the WBC heavyweight champion anymore, but I will still be the lineal heavyweight champion because they can’t take that from me!”
Fury said he’s looking forward to the prospect of taking on Francis Ngannou with a special ruleset to make things more interesting.
“We’ve got Francis Ngannou, he’s a big guy, a big dangerous guy.
I’d love to see, people going on, ‘Oh, it’s not a fair fight in 10-ounce gloves,’ and that’s correct. It wouldn’t be a fair fight in 10-ounce gloves because like [Daniel] Cormier said recently, he said Francis Ngannou is a much cruder version of Deontay Wilder, and we all know what happened there.
So I think if we’re doing four-ounce gloves, he’d have a bit more chance of knocking me out, but then again, I’d have a bit more chance of knocking him out also. So it makes for an exciting fight.
And I will try to come in at my heaviest for that fight. I’ll try to come in over 300 pounds. Just to nail him to the canvas with one solid punch.”
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