Ngannou has fast hands and is strong, and there is no doubt that if he had significant boxing experience, he’d be good enough to cause a lot of heavyweights a lot of problems.īut with Ngannou's inexperience and Fury’s boxing ability, footwork and massive size, there is a legitimate question whether Ngannou will be able to ever put his hands on Fury. At his best - which was the Tyson fight - Douglas was a brilliant boxer-puncher who used a thudding jab to set up his combinations and control the pace and tenor of the fight. When he wasn’t focused, though, and when he didn’t move his head and shoulders, he was vulnerable to being hit and wasn’t able to get off his shots.ĭouglas’ power was nothing like Tyson’s, but he was a hard hitter. He had extremely fast hands, good feet, tremendous head and shoulder movement and is one of the biggest punchers in boxing history. His peak may well have come when he blew out Spinks in 91 seconds. The stylistic matchupĪt his best, focused and on top of his game, Tyson was one of the best heavyweights to ever set foot in the ring. Tyson was seemingly much more vulnerable to an upset in 1990 than Fury appears to be in 2023. While it’s a battle he fights every day, Fury has seemingly gotten the issue under control and has been at his best in the ring in the last five years. Tyson didn’t train particularly hard for Douglas, while Douglas prepared diligently as he planned to honor his late mother with his performance.įury has battled mental health issues and ballooned to 400 pounds not long after winning the title from Klitschko in 2015. Nothing in his in-ring performance suggested anything was amiss.īut his life outside the ring was in turmoil, which Douglas would soon expose. In his three fights prior to meeting Douglas, Tyson scored first-round knockouts of future Hall of Famer Michael Spinks Frank Bruno and Carl Williams. His marriage to actress Robin Givens was major news and when it was crumbling, he submitted to an interview with the legendary journalist Barbara Walters on ABC’s "20/20." It was in that interview with Tyson seated to her right that Givens said that being married to Tyson was “torture, pure hell, worse than anything I could possibly imagine.” His every move was chronicled by the tabloids and the paparazzi and he was frequently on television. Tyson was the biggest name in boxing in 1990 and was one of the most famous and popular athletes in the world. (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) Where Tyson was then compared to where Fury is now 22, 2022, at UFC 270.įormer UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou works out with trainer Dewey Cooper in preparation for his boxing match Saturday with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. Ngannou hasn’t had a fight of any kind since defeating Gane in Anaheim, California, on Jan. He made one defense, winning a decision over Ciryl Gane. Ngannou is arguably the hardest puncher in MMA history and won the UFC heavyweight title on March 27, 2021, in Las Vegas when he stopped Stipe Miocic in the second round. He wandered into a gym in Paris one day where a coach, Fernand Lopez, convinced him to give MMA a shot. His dream, he said many times, was to follow in Mike Tyson’s footsteps and become heavyweight champion of the world. Ngannou will make his professional boxing debut against Fury. He wasn’t perceived as the biggest threat to Tyson, but he was a skilled and talented fighter who had some serious wins. So when Douglas went to fight Tyson, he wasn’t some bum off the street. At the time of the stoppage, Douglas led on one card, was even on another and was behind by a point on the third. He’d also fought Tony Tucker for the IBF title in 1987 and was giving a great account of himself until tiring and getting stopped in the 10th. Before meeting Tyson in that now-famous bout, he had wins over three men who had held the heavyweight title, Berbick, McCall and Greg Page. It was his punching power that earned him the nickname “Dynamite” Douglas.īuster followed his father’s footsteps and went into boxing. He compiled a 42-16-1 record with 32 knockouts. Francis Ngannou’sĭouglas’ father, Bill, was a solid boxer in the 1970s who fought at middleweight and light heavyweight, meeting many of the elite fighters in those divisions at the time. Let’s take a look: Buster Douglas’ background vs. That leads to the question that if Ngannou is able to defeat Fury, whether it would surpass Douglas over Tyson as the greatest upset in boxing history. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)īut for this exercise, we don’t need to go any further than Douglas over Tyson since it’s widely acclaimed as the greatest upset in boxing history. Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou face off during a news conference Thursday ahead of their bout Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |