Later this month, Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou will take part in one of the biggest crossover events to date in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Given that the Fury vs Usyk bout for the undisputed heavyweight championship has been recently confirmed to follow the Ngannou fight relatively soon after, the general excitement from the boxing community has also been met with some criticism from key parties, namely Daniel Cormier.
Cormier, the former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, and current ESPN contributor, broke down how he feels about the Fury vs Usyk announcement.
“It is the most disrespectful thing Tyson Fury could do,” Cormier said. “It is so disrespectful! Tyson Fury knows. It’s kind of crazy, bro, because I hope Francis knocks his head off. I like Tyson Fury, I watched his show on Netflix and fell in love with the dude. I like Tyson Fury so much now. I love his personality, I love his family. But it is the most disrespectful thing that you could do.”
“He scheduled a fight two months later, essentially saying that he’s gonna be completely clean when he’s done with Francis Ngannou,” Cormier continued. “So he’s gonna beat Francis and go fight the number two heavyweight in the world right after. It’s crazy.”
It’s hard to fault Cormier for feeling that the announcement for the Fury vs Usyk bout is disrespectful to Francis Ngannou, but Ngannou will have the opportunity to ruin those plans on October 28, 2023.