By Charles Brun: Tyson Fury’s $79.99 PPV crossover fight against non-boxer Francis Ngannou this Saturday night is generating buzz with boxing fans on social media, and it could bomb badly, proving to be a disaster for the Saudis who are paying huge money for this strange fight/event.
Fury-Ngannou event will be shown live on ESPN+ PPV, and it will be interesting to see if the MMA crowd will help make it a success because boxing fans in the U.S. are showing no interest in this odd-bird.
If this event bombs, we’ll see if this puts an end to these types of garbage fights. Hopefully, it does because it makes a joke of boxing and mistakes the fans the fans for being absolute fools.
This wouldn’t be a bad exhibition-level type match for free on an undercard of a real fight involving fighters that American fans want to see, but not in a main event, and certainly not for $79.99.
The organizers of the event must think there are a lot of gullible fans who don’t mind paying to watch low-level fights.
If Fury had faced quality opposition during the last two years instead of British journeymen, some fans would be mildly interested in watching him fight the 37-year-old ex-UFC fighter Ngannou, but that hasn’t been the case.
Fury has burned through the last two years fighting 40-year-old Derek Chisora & Dillian Whyte in matches that fans in the U.S. had zero interest in watching, and it’s pretty obvious that he’s just taking the easiest matches possible as he heads out the door into retirement.
Fury vs. Ngannou = money grab
“I don’t think Fury vs. Ngannou is a massive pay-per-view. It’s going to be a great promotion this week it’s going to be incredible. The money they’re going to put behind it. I don’t think it does huge numbers in the U.S,” said Eddie Hearn to Secondsout about this Saturday’s boxing match between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia.
“I think it’s a big event, and it’ll do big numbers. I don’t really follow the MMA stuff, but by all accounts, from the response that I’ve seen from that card, they’re very solid numbers.
“It’s a total mismatch,” said Hearn when asked about his thoughts on the Fury vs. Ngannou fight. “Can we have the opportunity to say it’s a heavyweight world champion [Fury], #1 in the world, against a man [Ngannou] that has never put on a pair of boxing gloves in a professional ring, and the British Boxing Board of Control is sanctioning that fight between two non-British licensed holders in Saudi Arabia.
If you look at the training view below of Ngannou, he is absolutely slow, and it’s hard to believe this guy was a champion in the UFC. It just shows you those guys can’t fight and are a bunch of wrestlers.
“The whole thing is a money grab. It’s great entertainment but a total mismatch, but it’s going to be a great event. So, good luck to them, but it is what it is,” said Hearn about the Fury-Ngannou fight this Saturday night.
