Francis Ngannou was inches away from achieving sports history.
Going 10 rounds with the lineal boxing heavyweight champion of the world in Tyson Fury in your first professional bout in the sport is literally unheard of. The MMA superstar lost a controversial split decision on October 28 but came away from the fight with the respect of the combat sports world following his impressive performance.
The ex-UFC heavyweight champion even managed to knock down the 'Gypsy King' in the third round of the bout as his boxing coach Dewey Cooper – who spoke exclusively to Daily Star Sport – revealed that the 36-year-old predicted he would do just that.
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The former boxer has been coaching Ngannou for years and insisted that he thought the Cameroonian won the fight. "I felt we won the fight, many people around the world thought he won so two people really changed history, had Francis won that fight, that would have been the biggest moment in sports history," Cooper said.
"I'm happy but it's a slight bittersweet type of happiness but at the end of the day, Francis showed his ability and what he's all about and I don't think people will doubt him in boxing any longer." Conversations surrounding Ngannou's next move has been hot in the media as Cooper managed to shed light on the uncertainty.
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"He told us from the ride back from the Fury fight that I'm going to do both, I'm going to fight in MMA and boxing in 2024." Whether a potential rematch with Fury takes place in boxing or MMA, Cooper explained just how lucky the 35-year-old is that his knockdown took place under boxing rules.
"We predicted the knockdown, Francis knew he'd be able to land punches on Fury, he's just lucky we're in a boxing spectrum because had that been an MMA fight, when he went down in the third round, it would have been the pound of the century."
Some of have said it's only fair for a heavyweight boxer to foray into Ngannou's neck of woods but that would be an unwise decision for the likes of Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder, according to Cooper. "Any one of those so-called boxing champions that want to come to MMA, I'm not going to say it's easy work but those guys will be light work for sure. In an MMA fight, Francis smashes all them dudes, they got no shot."
Alongside his role of Ngannou's coach, Cooper is the head coach of the Las Vegas Hustle of Team Combat League and with season two of the league coming up in 2024, he explained why he's so hyped for its return. "We expect excitement personified, energy and explosiveness, we have new cities, new teams and more fighters, it's going to be even more exciting than last year, I'm looking forward to Team Combat League," he exclaimed.
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