‘The Gypsy King’ Tyson Fury gatecrashed the press conference between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou ahead of their huge clash in Riyadh – but got more than he bargained for after being brutally shut down by UFC great Ngannou.
Ngannou dropped Fury in October in what was his boxing debut, only to fall to a controversial split decision defeat.
Fury was sitting in the front row of the press conference in Saudi Arabia when Ngannou claimed he would take ‘another win’ over Fury if they met again.
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“I am really intending to gain a lot of major victories like this,” Ngannou said about his looming fight with Joshua.
“One more over Tyson, because I have the first one over him and I’m intending to have the second one. And he’s been b****ing about it, which is true.”
Fury, sitting in the front row of the press conference, interjected loudly. But Ngannou hit back, saying: “You’re going to sleep in the [ring] again and I’m going to wipe the ring with your a*** again.
“I wiped the ring with you a***, there was blood in the ring.”
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As Fury continued to speak out, Ngannou doubled down, claiming that if the pair ever met without boxing rules then Fury would ‘have a really bad time’.
“Your only chance is in the boxing ring with the boxing rules,” he said.
“When you step out of the ring you better stay five metres away before I stop your s**t because if I lose it you’re going to have a really bad time, my friend.
“Respect the fact that boxing is protecting your a*** and the rules of boxing are protecting you all. Without that, you are nothing.
“I’d beat you every day, twice on Sunday.”
Fury clashed with Ngannou a day prior in an awkward run-in. His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, who is organising the event, hosted all of the boxers on the card – as well as Tyson Fury and football star Cristiano Ronaldo – at his private residence.
It led to a heated argument between Fury and Ngannou.
Fury’s cousin Andy Lee, currently training New Zealand’s Joseph Parker for his clash with Zhilei Zhang on the same card, witnessed the interaction.
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Lee told iFL TV: “It is a bizarre thing. Anthony Joshua’s on one side, Tyson’s here.
“Then Ngannou came in and Tyson pulled him up straight away.
“He said, ‘Hey you, you’ve been talking about me in interviews, saying I’m a coward, calling me a yellow belly.’
“But Ngannou in fairness was quite cool and calm and went, ‘No I didn’t say that.’
“Tyson went, ‘You did. I beat you, I beat you.’
“Ngannou said, ‘No, no, no. I didn’t say that.’
“Tyson said, ‘What does your record say?’
“Then Tyson said, ‘You take care of your man, I’ll take care of mine and I’ll give it to you again.’
“He put it on him for a bit, it was interesting.”
Later, Fury claimed Ngannou should ‘thank him’ for a huge payday in boxing compared to his UFC career.
“He should be [thanking me] really because all of his UFC career he made about $1 million, and he made about $6 million or $7 million against me,” Fury told Queensberry Boxing.
“So, he should be thanking me really. Instead, I’ve had to tell him off in front of a load of people because he’s having a lot to say on camera after I’ve given him his biggest payday by about a million times.
“I don’t know, he’s an ungrateful f***** really.”
Fury will next face Oleksander Usyk – perhaps twice – with the winner in line to face the victor of Joshua and Ngannou.
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