By Jake Tiernan: WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has given heavyweight champion Tyson Fury “special permission” to fight novice fighter Francis Ngaannou in an event on October 28th in Saudi Arabia in a 10-round fight.
Sulaiman didn’t say whether the World Boxing Council will create a special belt created by one of their artisans, filled with gold & precision gems to be put on the line for Fury’s 10 round fight with Ngannou.
It’s already being rumored the WBC will be doing that to help give the fight meaning to fans. Having a belt on the line will make it look more like a real fight than a money grab to take advantage of Fury & Ngannou’s adoring fans.
Fury won’t be stripped of his WBC title by putting his mandatory challenger on hold while he goes to Saudi Arabia to pick up a payday estimated to be $40-50 million against a 0-0 fighter Ngannou. The fight will be under boxing rules.
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren says he’s not sure what the PPV price will be for the fight with Ngannou. That’ll be determined later.
“There won’t be any belts on the line because the guy [Ngannou] isn’t ranked here. We’re not selling. It’s an event, it’s a boxing event,” said promoter Frank Warren to talkSPORT Boxing, defending Tyson Fury’s decision to fight Francis Ngannou next instead of someone from his own sport, like Oleksandr Usyk.
Mauricio Sulaiman said that Tyson Fury received special permission from the WBC to fight Francis Ngannou as there is no official challenger.
He mentioned that Fury tried to close fights against Ruiz, Joshua and Usyk but no agreement was reached.
— World Boxing Council (@WBCBoxing) July 11, 2023
“We haven’t even gotten there,” said Warren when asked what the PPV price will be for Fury vs. Ngannou. “This is a big event. Don’t tell me people won’t buy it. As soon as that bell rings, what is Ngannou going to do? He’s going to try and put it on Tyson and knock him out. Can he do it? That’s what we’re going to see.
“This guy [Ngannou] comes to fight. He has heart, and he can punch. I’ll tell you something. If he catches Tyson on the chin, he may do a job on Tyson. I don’t think he will because I think Tyson is too much for anyone.
This would appear to be the last fight of the year for the 34-year-old Fury, which means he will have made no mandatory defenses of his title in 2023.
That’s not a good thing if you’re a challenger and you don’t get a shot at the WBC belt because Fury is enriching himself in Saudi in a crossover fight, but this is the same organization that Jermall Charlo as a champion.
“Don’t say this fellow is coming to make up the numbers. He’s coming, and he’s getting paid a heck of a lot of money because this is an event, it is a commercial event, and that’s the reason it’s going on when it’s going on in Saudi.
“They’ve stepped up, and at least we’re moving. In the meantime, if we weren’t fighting this guy, he [Fury] wouldn’t be fighting Usyk, and he wouldn’t be fighting Joshua because they both have fights at the moment.
“It’s three minute [rounds], and it’s under boxing rules, and it’s a proper fight. It will be while it lasts; it’ll be a war while it lasts.
“Tyson will get this one out of the way and then defend his WBC title. This is not for the WBC title. No one is saying that. This is a crossover event between a boxing and a [an ex] UFC champion. That’s what it is,” Warren said.
He’s been allowed to sit on his WBC middleweight title for 2+ years without defending it. You get the picture.
If you’re a challenger, the last place you want to be is in the WBC’s rankings because the chances are, you’re not going to get a shot at a world title, even if you’re mandatory.
Obviously, that’s something that needs to be changed with that organization by having an overseer of the sport force sanctioning bodies to make things fair for the challengers. You can’t have a champion sit on a belt for years without making a yearly title defense against their mandatory.
If this was the NFL, you couldn’t have the Super Bowl skipped a year or two because the team was having problems or wanted to pick up a massive payday playing against a semi-pro team.
