It is often said that when two fighters want a fight to happen badly enough, nothing can prevent it from taking place. Well, when the fighters, television broadcasters, promoters and a country throw their weight behind a fight, it becomes an unstoppable juggernaut.

Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou came face to face in London this afternoon to officially announce ‘The Battle of the Baddest.’ A heavyweight extravaganza to supposedly crown the undisputed ‘Baddest Man on the Planet.’

Fury - the lineal and WBC heavyweight champion - will meet the former UFC heavyweight king in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 28th. The fight will launch the countdown to Riyadh Season.

Fury (33-0-1, 24 KO’s) and Ngannou (0-0) will box ten - or fewer - three-minute rounds and three ringside judges will score the fight using the ten point must system. Whether the judges will be required to do any work on the night seems entirely dependent on how ‘The Gypsy King’ decides to approach the fight but given the amount of attention today’s press conference generated, that doesn’t matter. The public have already bought in.

“I think it’s gonna be an unbelievable night of action,” Fury told Queensberry Promotions at a huge red carpet launch event. “You’ve got two guys on top of the game. It’s heavyweight boxing and all jokes aside, I’m taking Ngannou very seriously. By the time comes around I’ll have been in camp for twelve weeks. I’ve got some big, big guys coming in. I’ve got Tom Aspinall [top UFC heavyweight] coming in. I never underestimate any opponent whether he’s a local pub brawler or the UFC champion. I always give them more respect than they deserve because they’re all threats and they’re all dangerous and they’re all looking for that one punch that’s going to change the stars.

“Call me Larry Holmes. I’m gonna use the jab on him. Jab his nut off and sink the right hands in and sicken him.”

The seed for a Fury and Ngannou fight was first planted when the pair came face to face in the ring at Wembley Stadum in April 2022 after Fury knocked out Dillian Whyte to successfully defend his titles. What started as a fantasy fight gathered momentum and when talks for a fight between Fury and WBA, IBF, WBO and Ring magazine champion, Oleksandr Usyk, finally broke down the money and exposure on offer for an Ngannou fight became impossible to ignore.

“I love it. It’s what I live for,” Fury told Dan Hardy. “I take these risks because one, I’m getting paid a hell of a lot of money and two, two worlds are colliding. It’s the battle of boxing and MMA. The fact that its two champions in their prime. We aren’t coming off four losses in a row. Either I chin him or he chins me. Somebody is getting chinned.

“Obviously I’m getting paid a hell of a lot of money. I’ll get millions and millions of people from MMA and boxing watching it. Whether they like the fact that I’m gonna do it or not, guess what they’re gonna do? Still watch it. They’re gonna be curious. ‘What if he lands?’

“I’m in the twilight zone of my career now. I was 35 last week. I want to enjoy the last bit of the career I’ve got left because you never know when it’s gonna be all over. God forbid I go in there and get in a tussle with Ngannou and get an ACL or a shoulder or a cut eye or whatever. You never know whats around the corner so you’ve gotta take advantage of it, enjoy every minute and that’s what I’m doing. I’m a natural born entertainer. These boxers ain’t got sh!t on me. They’re like officers workers. They’re stiff and boring and everybody is sick of it. When I come, it’s an event. I’m the only show in town.”

Ngannou is finally receiving the attention and money he has craved for a long time. He faces a monumental task but having overcome the type of struggles most of us can only imagine he has absolutely nothing to lose. Ngannou some confidently and will have the belief of a champion but even he must privately accept that his only real route to victory is to land the most stunning punch in the history of combat sports. He is training with heavyweight legend, Mike Tyson, and his introduction to the world of professional boxing hasn’t been a soft one. 

“At this point of life I’m living a dream. I’m enjoying [it],” Ngannou told Carl Frampton on the red carpet. “The only pressure on me is to give everything. To put out all of the work that I can do. Everything that is in my possession and I’m doing that so I’m good.

“It’s very, very different. I knew that [it would be] but to get there and feel it is a little different. After two weeks you start feeling your shoulder. You’re like, ‘Ok, I think my shoulder is sore.’ and you realize that in two weeks you’ve thrown as many punches as you would in a ten week training camp for MMA.”

Boxing fans have been scathing since the fight was announced but their reaction is rooted in understandable frustration at the heavyweight division as a whole. The seemingly endless obstacle course negotiators need to traverse to get a meaningful fight made have brought a once red hot division to a shuddering halt. 

Fury has the ability and charisma to cement himself as the best heavyweight of his era but since beating Deontay Wilder in their third fight back in he has knocked out Whyte and beaten up Dereck Chisora. Boxing fans don’t want to see Fury face Ngannou. They can see the prime of a truly unique heavyweight talent slipping away. 

However, purists form an ever decreasing section of the audience for any sport and it should never be forgotten that boxers and MMA practitioners are prizefighters.

As much as boxing fans wanted to see Fury and Usyk settle matters, there will be MMA fans who feel they have missed out on their own mega-fight. Ngannou left the UFC in search of respect and money without ever fighting Jon Jones.

Fury would be insane to turn down the eye watering sums on offer for what should amount to little more than an exhibition appearance. Ngannou’s journey from the sand mines of Cameroon to the pinnacle of the MMA world is spellbinding and he deserves to be rewarded for his tremendous accomplishments in the Octagon.

I’m sorry boxing fans, it is time to accept the reality of the situation. Fury and Ngannou is signed and we are unlikely to crown the true king of heavyweight boxing this year. But - by the time the fighters stand on the scales and face off in October - boxing will be at the focus of the sporting world.

There really is nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the mayhem. Who knows, you might just enjoy it.