By Kenneth Friedman: Mike Tyson recently met with UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou to give him pointers on his technique. Boxing great Tyson showed the big-punching 6’4′ Ngannou some of his technique and tried to assist him with his footwork.
Tyson showed Ngannou how to work his way inside by using his jab, and then hurt his opponents with body shots and uppercuts. The footwork that Tyson showed to Ngannou was nothing short of amazing. Tyson revealed how Ngannou can shift positions to land shots to the side.
It’s important that Ngannou learns as much as he can from boxing greats like Mike Tyson because he doesn’t possess the grappling background that many of his competitors in the UFC has going for them.
Ngannou does well during the stand-up, but he’s not as competent when it comes to the ground game. With Tyson, he can help Ngannou win his fights without his opponents getting close to him to grab him.
Whether the lanky Ngannou will be able to use any of the pointers that Tyson gave him is unclear. It’s likely that Tyson would need to train Ngannou over an extended period of time for him to grasp all the things that could help him in his UFC matches
The 6’4″ Ngannou (15-3) had originally planned on going into boxing in his early 20s, but instead, he went over to MMA where he’s been able to find a lot of success with his huge punching power.
That’s a sport that doesn’t require as much of an early start than in boxing. You don’t see too many late bloomers in boxing.
If fighters to pick up the sport in their teens, it’s rare for them to do well in boxing.
Tyson has the knowledge to become a great trainer if he wants to. Early on, Tyson was trained by the legend Cus D’amato, and he learned a great deal from him.
Ngannou is a devastating puncher with knockouts over the following fighters:
- Cain Velasquez
- Alistair Overeem
- Andrei Arlovski
- Junior dos Santos
Ngannou might be better off with a coach that teach him to keep his opponents on the outside. If Ngannou had Tyson as his coach, he might let his opposition get too close to him, and that would result in a lot more grappling, which isn’t what he needs. Ngannou would do better to keep the action on the outside where he can get more leverage on his power shots.