By Jake Tiernan: Carl Froch says Tyson Fury told him that he’s being paid more for his fight against boxing novice Francis Ngannou in an event on October 28th than what he would have received had he fought IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed championship.
Fury backed out of the Usyk negotiations to go pick up a bag in Saudi Arabia against former UFC champion Ngannou. The WBC has given Fury “special permission” to freeze his heavyweight while he goes and picks up the massive payday in against Ngannou.
The 26-year-old Nannou says his fight with Fury will count as a real professional fight that will count on the records. That’s just sad. It should be an exhibition, as it makes a mockery of the sport to have this circus-level fight count on the pro records.
It’s unknown what went into the WBC allowing Fury to keep his title because, obviously, he should be stripped of his belt, given that he’s fighting an unranked guy who is making his pro debut. It’s wrong for a world champion to be allowed to ignore contenders to fight non-boxers.
This kind of thing wouldn’t be permitted in other sports that are better controlled, like the NFL or NBA.
The WBC allowing Fury to freeze his title is another reason why these sanctioning bodies should be removed from controlling rankings. In Fury’s previous fight, he was allowed to defend his WBC title against journeyman Derek Chisora, who had lost 3 out of his last 4 fights. It’s clear that Fury is just in it for the money and is no longer taking serious fights.
“‘Listen, it’s about the money. It’s the biggest fight in heavyweight boxing,’ that’s what he said to me,” said Carl Froch to talkSPORT Boxing on what Tyson Fury told him about why he’s fighting Francis Ngannou.
“I said, ‘You’re going to be getting paid more for this fight than any other fight you would’ve taken? A bigger fight than Oleksandr Usyk?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, it’s a bigger fight; I’m getting paid more than I would’ve got.’”
Fury-Ngannou is billed as the ‘Baddest man on the planet’ and referred to as a “game changer,” which suggests that this is only the beginning of crossover boxing events in which boxers will be fighting MMA guys over & over to take advantage of the huge money potential because of the larger fan bases that the Mixed Martial Artist fighters have.
Moreover, when you have wealthy boxers that have become risk-aversive, putting them in with MMA fighters to extend their careers is a way to ensure the gravy train keeps going for as long as possible.
“I think we [eventually] get Tyson Fury against Usyk. I think we get Tyson Fury vs. Joshua,” said Spencer Oliver. ”
