Subscribe
Follow Us
There's no doubt in Joe Joyce's mind who the harder puncher is between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou.
Fury takes on Ngannou in a 10-round boxing match taking place Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It will notably be the professional boxing debut of Ngannou.
However, since it's crossover fight between a boxing world champion and an MMA fighter, it's evident to most combat sports fans how the result would go.
That said, there are some who feel it could be lights out for Fury if Ngannou is able to even land one punch given how devastating his knockout power has been in the UFC. That power was displayed in 4oz gloves and whether it translates with bigger boxing gloves remains to be seen for now.
However, we do have insight from Joyce who has sparred with both men. And as far as he's concerned, Ngannou is the harder hitter — but whether he is able to get a hit on Fury is another question altogether.
“Ngannou hits harder, if you let him hit you,” Joyce said (via Boxing Social). “Fury is a slippery character but he has shown that he can hit hard too, you can see that from the way that he knocked out [Dillian] Whyte, and [Deontay] Wilder as well.
“It’s a good fight for Ngannou, he’s got a good payday, I’m happy for him.”
Article Continues Below
All that said, Joyce is still disappointed Fury is fighting Ngannou as opposed to Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury and Usyk were in negotiations over a heavyweight title unification clash earlier this year only for it to collapse with both sides blaming the other. Another attempt was made to book it for December in Saudi Arabia only for that to also fail.
“I’m disappointed with Fury not fighting [Oleksandr] Usyk though, because that was for the undisputed [title], which hasn’t happened for so many years in the heavyweight game,” Joyce added. “Hopefully it will happen, but everything still seems to be up in the air.”
With Usyk's win over Daniel Dubois this past weekend, it was revealed by both his manager and Fury's promoter Frank Warren that the plan is very much a heavyweight title unification fight in early 2024.
Hopefully, boxing fans will see an official confirmation soon after the Fury vs. Ngannou fight has concluded. But given past history, nobody is holding their breath.
