MMA legend Chael Sonnen has described Tyson Fury’s plans to box Francis Ngannou in a cage in 4 oz gloves as ‘perhaps the dumbest idea in sports history’. The pair had agreed to fight each other last year after Fury’s brief retirement from professional boxing but an agreement couldn’t be reached as Ngannou was still under contract with the UFC.
However, the Cameroonian recently parted ways with the promotion prompting Fury to renew his interest in the crossover clash after his fight with Oleksandr Usyk. The Gypsy King stated that he wants to face Ngannou in a cage under Queensbury boxing rules with 4 oz MMA gloves and even proposed that boxing icon Mike Tyson should be the referee.
The former UFC heavyweight champion is yet to respond to the offer but did disclose plans to transition to boxing and called out Fury and Anthony Joshua for his debut. Sonnen doesn’t mind the idea of Ngannou and Fury competing under a conventional ruleset but isn’t keen on the Mancunian’s hybrid boxing proposal.
“I see Tyson Fury come out over the weekend and finally clear up first what we’re going to do first with Francis,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “They’ve always said they’re going to make up a sport. These two were going to do a game, but they were going to do something combat related. For reasons unknown, they weren’t going to box.
“I put this out there because of how disappointing it is to see these boxers as beggars. Guys that are hot to fight to go out there and get it on your own, that have physical capabilities that other men can only dream of.
“But they don’t know how to go out there and get it on their own. They just don’t know how. I bring it to you because to watch Tyson Fury beg, it was surprising. I don’t want to call it disappointing. It was really close to calling it that, but I don’t want to call it that. So, Tyson comes to us with perhaps the dumbest idea in sports history. He knows it is.”