Former world champion Paulie Malignaggi does not believe Mike Tyson will make one bit of difference for Francis Ngannou in his upcoming non-title fight with WBC heavyweight king Tyson Fury.

This Saturday in Saudi Arabia, the former UFC champion will make his professional boxing debut against Fury.

To properly prepare for the fight, Ngannou hired Tyson, a former undisputed heavyweight champion, to train him.

Malignaggi sees Tyson as nothing more than a storyline figurehead to sell more pay-per-views for the event.

He explains that Ngannou's physical attributes are all wrong for the fighting style of someone like Tyson, who used his short stature and fast hands to overcome much bigger opponents.

"Mike Tyson will have absolutely no impact on Francis Ngannou whatsoever. Absolutely none. Tyson is there as a headline maker, to sell more pay per views. The MMA fans unfortunately are the least intelligent in all of professional sports," Malignaggi said to OLBG.

“Because of that, they will think the Mike Tyson situation will make a difference and spur Ngannou on. When in reality, anyone who understands real boxing knows that to use Tyson style you have to be short. The head bobbing that Tyson does, that's not for tall guys.

“It's actually counterproductive for tall guys. Ngannou is shorter but not that much shorter and honestly, I don't think Ngannou has the quickness of a small guy to use Tyson's tactics on the way in. When you're as big as Tyson Fury he's just going to do what Lennox Lewis did and push their head down if they get too close.

“If Ngannou does get by his defenses with that head movement, he'll just push his head down and the ref will break it. I'm happy for Ngannou that he's getting paid because Dana White is an absolute pig for not paying their fighters what they're worth. But I think Ngannou is going to end up taking a beating for the money.”