There’s no doubting Francis Ngannou’s power.
After all, 12 of his 17 mixed martial arts victories came by the way of devastating knockouts. And that KO power seemingly gives him at least a chance against Tyson Fury this October in their boxing match.
But even the MMA community that has been witness to Ngannou’s lights-out power over the years concedes that it will help him against the reigning WBC heavyweight champion of the world, but perhaps not much.
“To me, he has a chance because of power and speed but the longer the rounds go, the less chance he’s going to have,” longtime MMA coach Javier Mendez told DAZN about Ngannou’s chances boxing Fury.
“This isn’t his sport. This is Tyson’s domain.”
The way Mendez sees the super fight going is Fury feeling Ngannou out for a couple of rounds before mashing the dash on the pressure.
“Unless Ngannou leaves himself wide open right away, it will be the third, fourth round where I think Tyson is going to potentially put on the steam,” Mendez added.
“It might be earlier, but I don’t see Tyson trying to knock him out right away because that could be very, very foolish against a guy who hits as hard as Francis.”
Whatever should transpire in their fight October 28, Mendez is glad Ngannou is going to receive the kind of money the UFC wouldn’t pay him.
“It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy,” Mendez said, “to make all that kind of money, Ngannou deserves it.”