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Oh, this is an Unorthodox fight, alright.
Practically without value.
Well, it's not without any value for boxing history, and as a proliferate one myself, I can promise that if the fight is good, historians will long look back at it for generations to come.
What's on the line?
1. The Heavyweight Championship of the world. Whenever a fight is undertaken by the real (Linial) World Heavyweight champion, and is held under the Marquis of Queensbury rules, it counts 100%, and the Linial world title is most certainly being contested.
Even the WBC has come around to understand this, and has created a Brand New Title belt especially for this occasion, being called the Riyadh championship belt.
If Ngannou should somehow win against Tyson Fury, he becomes the new world's champion. No doubting the claim of the man who beat the man.
2. Bragging rights. People often ask, "Who is the baddest man on the planet?
For centuries the answer was "The Heavyweight Champion of the World".
That was the answer long, long before John L. Sullivan proclaimed to the world "I can lick any son of a ***** in the house!".
Few populations thought the distinction should go to a sword fighter, Axe warrior or soldier, as for them, it is the weapons maker who does most of the work, not the gladiator who wields it. Fewer still saw it as the wrestler, in spite of gravity and physiology giving a grappler a 7 of 10 advantage in a match where both boxer and wrestler are required to stay within their respective disiplines. Perhaps this is attributed to both sports being practiced in tandem, but ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures all concluding that grappling was comparatively "cowardly", though an otherwise respected sport in itself.
We acknowledge today that a good combination of Striking and Grapping is quite often the best approach to non lethal unarmed combat; but old Ray Mercer's nine-second MMA rules knockout of the 2-time UFC Heavyweight champ 15 years his junior, in 2009, reset the thinking completely, as we were reminded then, that a man with a rapier, a buck knife, a club and a pistol can be easy plunder for a man with only one flamethrower.
The purveyors of the sport scrambled to counter the revelation with Couture vs. Toney at UFC 118 in Boston, but Toney was morbidly obese and deep into the symptoms of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, and the event simply smacked of trying too hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube.
But Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou is breaking new ground by pitting the VERY BEST in the world against each other for total combat sport supremacy.
Granted, the fight is under Boxing rules.
This is because that is where all the money is; and while the boxer should be the favorite under these restricted rules; and Ngannou we can presume to be logically favored under the middle place of MMA rules, Mercer - Sylvia notwithstanding; there is nothing but 'favorite sport driven' theory to inform us who we should favor in a real fight, where Fury would certainly want to shoot fast, accurate jabs at Ngannous eye sockets with two fingers extended; a skill that Fury would be better at than any hybrid fighter by miles and miles, and would very likely end the fight by doing so, on a battle field, a back alley or a bar room named Knuckles Emporium.
With all this considered, the rules of the centuries are just as suitable as the ones dating to only 1993 to settle the matter.
In this fight, we decide who is Heavyweight champion, without placing any sport name in front of the word Heavyweight.
3. Global excitement. This fight is bound to be big box office, but more importantly, it will serve as high education to fight fans of all types. There is some risk for Fury here too, even with Ngannou keeping his Boxing inside the world of Mixed Martial Arts to date. The man can punch, and very hard. Realistically, he represents as good a risk to nail Tyson Fury with a haymaker as the diminutive Oleksandr Usyk presents to outbox Fury for 12 rounds.
People should remember that this is nothing but fun, and to have some fun with this.
Practically without value.
Well, it's not without any value for boxing history, and as a proliferate one myself, I can promise that if the fight is good, historians will long look back at it for generations to come.
What's on the line?
1. The Heavyweight Championship of the world. Whenever a fight is undertaken by the real (Linial) World Heavyweight champion, and is held under the Marquis of Queensbury rules, it counts 100%, and the Linial world title is most certainly being contested.
Even the WBC has come around to understand this, and has created a Brand New Title belt especially for this occasion, being called the Riyadh championship belt.
If Ngannou should somehow win against Tyson Fury, he becomes the new world's champion. No doubting the claim of the man who beat the man.
2. Bragging rights. People often ask, "Who is the baddest man on the planet?
For centuries the answer was "The Heavyweight Champion of the World".
That was the answer long, long before John L. Sullivan proclaimed to the world "I can lick any son of a ***** in the house!".
Few populations thought the distinction should go to a sword fighter, Axe warrior or soldier, as for them, it is the weapons maker who does most of the work, not the gladiator who wields it. Fewer still saw it as the wrestler, in spite of gravity and physiology giving a grappler a 7 of 10 advantage in a match where both boxer and wrestler are required to stay within their respective disiplines. Perhaps this is attributed to both sports being practiced in tandem, but ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures all concluding that grappling was comparatively "cowardly", though an otherwise respected sport in itself.
We acknowledge today that a good combination of Striking and Grapping is quite often the best approach to non lethal unarmed combat; but old Ray Mercer's nine-second MMA rules knockout of the 2-time UFC Heavyweight champ 15 years his junior, in 2009, reset the thinking completely, as we were reminded then, that a man with a rapier, a buck knife, a club and a pistol can be easy plunder for a man with only one flamethrower.
The purveyors of the sport scrambled to counter the revelation with Couture vs. Toney at UFC 118 in Boston, but Toney was morbidly obese and deep into the symptoms of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, and the event simply smacked of trying too hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube.
But Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou is breaking new ground by pitting the VERY BEST in the world against each other for total combat sport supremacy.
Granted, the fight is under Boxing rules.
This is because that is where all the money is; and while the boxer should be the favorite under these restricted rules; and Ngannou we can presume to be logically favored under the middle place of MMA rules, Mercer - Sylvia notwithstanding; there is nothing but 'favorite sport driven' theory to inform us who we should favor in a real fight, where Fury would certainly want to shoot fast, accurate jabs at Ngannous eye sockets with two fingers extended; a skill that Fury would be better at than any hybrid fighter by miles and miles, and would very likely end the fight by doing so, on a battle field, a back alley or a bar room named Knuckles Emporium.
With all this considered, the rules of the centuries are just as suitable as the ones dating to only 1993 to settle the matter.
In this fight, we decide who is Heavyweight champion, without placing any sport name in front of the word Heavyweight.
3. Global excitement. This fight is bound to be big box office, but more importantly, it will serve as high education to fight fans of all types. There is some risk for Fury here too, even with Ngannou keeping his Boxing inside the world of Mixed Martial Arts to date. The man can punch, and very hard. Realistically, he represents as good a risk to nail Tyson Fury with a haymaker as the diminutive Oleksandr Usyk presents to outbox Fury for 12 rounds.
People should remember that this is nothing but fun, and to have some fun with this.
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