Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou seemingly agreed to a “special” heavyweight fight, moments after Fury knocked out Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium.
Fury remained unbeaten and retained the WBC heavyweight title by stopping his fellow Briton in front of 94,000 fans in London, and UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou entered the ring as the “Gypsy King” celebrated his sixth-round victory.
Fury and Ngannou have traded words on social media in recent months, going back and forth over the possibility of a boxing match with mixed martial arts gloves or an MMA contest with boxing gloves.
“This is going to be one very special fight,” Fury said in the ring at Wembley, despite having just suggested that he may retire. “It’ll be something never before seen in the history of our sport.
“We’re not talking two guys around 140lbs; I’m 270lbs, he’s 270lbs. It’s going to be an explosive fight when it happens.
“I’m the boxing heavyweight champion, he’s the UFC heavyweight champion, he’s in great shape – look at the muscles on him.”
Cameroonian Ngannou, 35, said: “We are going to find out who is the baddest motherf***** on the planet.
“Definitely some time next year that fight will happen, because by the end of this year we’re gonna know exactly... we’re gonna sort things out, ready to go.”
Ngannou, who is recovering from knee surgery, is locked in a contract dispute with the UFC and his future with the promotion is up in the air.
Fury, meanwhile, claimed before fighting Whyte that he would retire after the bout, and he said after beating his former sparring partner: “I promised my lovely wife of 14 years, Paris, that after the [Deontay] Wilder 3 fight, that would be it. And I meant it.
“Now it’s all done, and I have to be a man of my word. And I think this is it, this might be the final curtain for the ‘Gypsy King’. And what a way to go out!”
