When the former UFC champion Ngannou faced Fury in a crossover match two months ago, he gave a tremendous performance. Fury had to get himself up off the ground after Ngannou dropped him and only won by a single point on the judges’ scorecards, although he was anticipated to easily defeat Ngannou to set up an undisputed bout with Oleksandr Usyk before the year was up.
One of Tyson Fury’s co-promoters informed Francis Ngannou(17-3-0, 12KOs) that he should face the heavyweight champion again. Many fans believed that Ngannou should have won the bout, and many harshly criticized Fury(34-0-1, 24KOs) for winning the decision.
“That’s an earned ability to get the rematch. He earned that. His performance dictated that, people think ‘Woah, he has a chance. We never thought he had a chance’ and in that situation I think absolutely,” said Todd DuBoef Top Rank president.
“I think Tyson is regretful. He blamed himself. He thought he had an off night. He said: ‘I took it lightly. It was all on me.’ Didn’t point fingers, which was good.
“Ngannou outperformed anybody’s expectation and as a result of that you have all the components to say, ‘hey, I want to see this again,’ and that creates and warrants a rematch,” he added.
On February 17 in Saudi Arabia, Fury will take on heavyweight opponent Oleksandr Usyk in an attempt to establish himself as the undisputed champion. Due to the fight’s two-way rematch provision, both fighters’ contracts are set to expire at the end of 2024. Regardless of how Fury’s fights with Usyk turn out, DuBoef would like to see Fury take on Ngannou once more.
“I’m not a big rematch fan. I just think that it kind of takes the prize out of the prizefight. The use of rematch clause is a new phenomenon that’s come in the last probably decade and a half. So I’m not a big rematch fan but you have to understand that there are rematch clauses in fights and it’s more of the norm today. Let’s hope that they put on such a great fight that it warrants a rematch,” said Todd DuBoef.
