Tyson Fury was in full P.T. Barnum mode Thursday, trying to convince anyone who would listen that a novice heavyweight has a legitimate chance to knock him out in their boxing match next month.

The flamboyant showman reminded disbelievers that everyone from a drunk dude at the bar across the street to a female broadcaster who interviewed him could knock out the unbeaten WBC champion if he or she hit him with the proper punch. Imagine what will happen, Fury warned, if “The Gypsy King” overlooks Francis Ngannou and somehow gets knocked out by the inexperienced former UFC heavyweight champion.

That fear fueled Fury to train twice as long for their 10-round exhibition, scheduled for October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, than the brash Brit prepared for one of his title fights against American knockout artist Deontay Wilder. While the majority of boxing fans and most media that cover boxing don’t think Ngannou has a legitimate shot to upset Fury, the 35-year-old lineal champion promised critics that have called their fight farcical that he considers Cameroon’s Ngannou a legitimate threat due to his raw power.

“Let’s not forget I only trained six weeks for Deontay Wilder,” Fury said during their press conference in London. “I’m doing 12 weeks for Francis Ngannou, 12 weeks. So, I need to be on my ‘A’ game because there’s more on the line now than a boxing fight. You know, if I lose to a number one contender, another champion, it’s like, ‘Well, he lost to a champion, whatever.’ But if I lose to an MMA guy, I’m never gonna be able to show me face in public again. It’s gonna be ridicule. People are gonna chuck it at me forever. So, there’s more riding on this than there ever has been before.”

The 37-year-old Ngannou knocked out 12 opponents in 20 professional MMA matches (17-3) prior to his agreement to fight Fury in a boxing ring. He won six straight UFC bouts before Ngannou parted ways with the company last year after his contract expired.

FanDuel still lists Fury as a 13-1 favorite to win their pay-per-view main event.

Fury and his handlers negotiated earlier this year with Oleksandr Usyk’s representatives, but they ultimately failed to put together a title unification fight that could’ve determined the first undisputed heavyweight champion of boxing’s four-belt era. Subsequent backlash only intensified once it became clear that Fury wouldn’t even face an actual boxer in his only fight of 2023, let alone the unbeaten IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO champion.

Nevertheless, Fury suspects that the 6-foot-4, 260-pound Ngannou might hit just as hard or harder than the taller, lighter Wilder, whose pulverizing power led to the former WBC champion dropping Fury twice apiece in their first and third fights. That’s why the 6-foot-9 Fury insists he is treating training camp for this crossover event as if it were another fight with Wilder.

“Whether the media wanna take it as a joke or whatever they wanna take it as,” Fury said, “make no mistake, Tyson Fury will leave zero stones unturned, and I will come in at me fittest and strongest and best I’ve ever been to defeat this man. And if I’m not, and I get knocked out, I want you all to laugh at me. That’s what I’ll want because I’ll deserve it. Only an idiot wouldn’t train their bollocks off for somebody like Francis. The man’s a machine and I’ll give him a hundred percent respect. And I’m in the gym every day training, and I can’t do no more.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.