WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou will compete inside of a boxing ring to determine who truly is the baddest man on the planet.
Well, kind of.
The showdown on October 28 in Riyadah, Saudi Arabia will feature two of the best heavyweights in the world in both boxing and MMA. However, the suggestion that this will be a fight on a level playing field is far from the truth.
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Ngannou will be entering Fury’s world as a boxer, a discipline that he has never competed in as a professional. Although he owns the world record for hardest punch ever recorded, Ngannou is used to throwing that punch with four-ounce gloves inside of an Octagon whereas the rules, glove size, and technique in boxing are extremely different than what the Cameroonian is used to.
Regardless, this showdown is getting significant attention because it still captures the imagination of the fight fan when disciplines collide. In recent years we have seen more examples of these crossover fights. Floyd Mayweather and former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor duked it out in a boxing ring. Boxing great James Toney got a taste of the MMA life when he faced Randy Couture. YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul has made a career by beating up on MMA fighters inside the squared circle.
But this is different because it’s rare that two heavyweights — long considered the glamour division of combat sports — clash on a stage like this. However, this isn’t the first time the reigning heavyweight champion competed in a crossover fight.
Forty-seven years ago, the great Muhammad Ali stepped into the ring with Japanese professional wrestler Antonio Inoki in a special rules bout branded as “The War of the Worlds.”
This June 26, 1976 clash of styles in Tokyo is considered the genesis of mixed martial arts on a mainstream level — even though Judo master Gene LeBell’s fight with boxer Milo Savage in 1963 is truly the first fight where combatants of different disciplines met. Incidentally, LeBell would be the third man in the ring for the Ali-Inoki matchup.
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Following Ali’s successful heavyweight title defense against Richard Dunn, the boisterous heavyweight made waves when he asked the president of the Japanese Amateur Wrestling Association if he had anyone who could defeat him. The immensely popular Inoki accepted the challenge and financial backers came up with $6 million to offer Ali (the largest purse of his career to that point) and the hype machine began to roll.
It certainly helped that Ali’s colorful personality borrowed heavily from professional wrestling — Ali has openly stated that his trash talk was influenced by professional wrestler Gorgeous George — and it was the perfect amount of gasoline to pour on a ridiculous fire that was burning bright and captured the attention of the masses.
Some wrote the fight off as a sham but it drew significant attention across the world, with an estimated 34 countries and 1.4 billion people tuning in for the fight.
But for all the hype, the fight failed to live up to expectations. What was originally set to be a predetermined finish changed when Ali didn’t approve of being the loser in a scripted fight. A special set of rules were established and fans were subjected to a painful 15-round battle that left fans at Nippon Budokon showering the ring with trash and demanding their money back.
Words cannot express how truly awful Ali-Inoki was.
When the fight started, Inoki rushed Ali and threw a sliding kick that missed and saw the large Japanese wrestler land on his back. Fans were baffled by Inoki’s approach and were even more confused as he spent much of the fight on his back, butt-scooting and landing leg kicks on Ali. The kicks were added to the rule set as a last-minute change and one that Ali had no idea how to deal with.
Inoki refused to stand with Ali, leaving the legendary boxer with no choice but to berate his opponent with verbal barbs in hopes of getting the wrestler back to his feet. At one point, Ali tried to use the ropes for leverage and stomp on Inoki with awkward bicycle kicks. Inoki chose to stand up with Ali later in the fight but a couple of jabs changed that strategy and the Japanese wrestler refused to enter Ali's wheelhouse for the rest of the fight. Inoki ended up landing an alarming 107 leg kicks on Ali but the lack of action resulted in the fight being declared a draw.
This wouldn’t be the last fight that didn’t live up to the hype and it’s widely expected that Fury-Ngannou is better as a dream fight than an actual reality.
Nevertheless, there are a lot of similarities between the foundation of Fury-Ngannou and Ali-Inoki. Fury, like Ali, had already proven that he was the best heavyweight in the world and sought other challenges that could prove to be lucrative. Also like Ali, Fury has a huge personality and has long been a fan of professional wrestling, where the absurd sells. According to Bob Arum, Fury's promoter, Fury may earn more than $100 million for this fight, which would also be the biggest purse of his career.
As was the case with Ali, this a low-risk, high-reward opportunity for Fury and gives him a break before heading into a major undisputed heavyweight championship fight with Oleksandr Usyk. Ali had his "fight" with Inoki months before his highly anticipated trilogy fight with rival Ken Norton.
However, Ngannou won’t have the benefit of throwing leg kicks or shooting for takedowns as this match will be fought under the rules of boxing. This will be foreign territory for Ngannou and, like his fellow MMA friends, he’ll be at a distinct disadvantage.
Where Ali-Inoki was built purely on the spectacle of styles clashing, Ngannou will dip his toe in the deepest end of the boxing pool against a man who has never lost in a sanctioned boxing match.
For the most part, MMA fighters trying their hand at boxing have failed miserably. However, there are a few rare cases where an MMA fighter excelled in the squared circle. Former UFC middleweight champion and hall of famer Anderson Silva defeated former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2021. But Chavez was far removed from his championship years and mired in dark times riddled with failed drug tests.
Fury is arguably at the height of his powers and will cash a massive check to participate in a glorified sparring match with Ngannou.
Unless Ngannou can shock the world with a life-altering punch, the pomp and circumstance surrounding this fight will far exceed the actual excitement in the ring. But the PPV pricetag tickles at our imagination and the “What If?” of it all.
Whether it's 1976 or 2023, the spectacle will always overrule the substance and Fury-Ngannou will be a blockbuster fight whether boxing purists like it or not.