UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has revealed his plan to make the jump over to professional boxing.
‘The Predator’ finally made his way to the top of the heavyweight ranks at UFC 260 where he knocked out Stipe Miocic. Now, the expectation is that he’ll defend the strap against Jon Jones later on in 2021.
Ngannou vs Joshua or Fury?
But with negotiations seemingly stalling between Jones and the UFC, other ideas have been cropping up. That includes a rematch against Derrick Lewis or perhaps the Stipe Miocic trilogy.
Whichever way they go the fans will have something to get excited for, but one “out there” option could be for Ngannou to test the waters in the boxing world.
When asked about the possibility during an interview with ESPN, Ngannou confirmed his desire to make the transition one day.
“This is in the future, it’s somewhere, definitely. I’m going to box; I have to box in my career.
“My main dream has always been the noble art and even though I deviated into MMA, which I love, I still have to fulfil something in boxing.”
When Francis Ngannou first left Cameroon with the intention of reaching France, his main goal was to become a professional boxer. MMA has proved to be a more than adequate fallback though.
He’s clearly made the right adjustments to succeed in mixed martial arts but if there was ever going to be a power puncher capable of making some noise in boxing’s heavyweight division, Ngannou could be that man.
Dana White may be hesitant to let Ngannou do such a thing but Francis appears to be the one with the leverage right now. If he plays his cards right, a superfight against Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury could actually happen somewhere down the road, after all, stranger things have happened.
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