Francis Ngannou has felt the power from top MMA fighters with four ounce gloves and has also been on the end of punches in boxing with 10 ounce gloves on.
The former UFC heavyweight champion has faced the likes of Alistair Overeem, Derrick Lewis and Cain Velasquez within the Octagon.
Inside the boxing ring, Ngannou jumped straight into the deep end – his only two professional fights come against two of the best in the division in Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Fans have always debated which discipline contains the harder hitters, and Ngannou is uniquely placed to give his judgement.
After his impressive performance against Fury, where he shocked the world with his boxing ability and a third round knockdown only to lose by a close split decision, Ngannou revealed on ‘The Last Stand’ podcast that Fury was the biggest puncher he had ever faced.
“Fury punches pretty good. I ate some of his shots, he punches very strong and he was with 10oz gloves, because MMA fights are 4oz gloves. In boxing it’s 10oz. I think, so far, he is the top [hard hitter of them all.]”
Fury is not known as one of the biggest punchers in the division, with that honour falling to the likes of Joshua, Zhilei Zhang, Deontay Wilder and Daniel Dubois.
The power Ngannou felt in his next contest against ‘AJ’ will surely now top the list. He admitted he didn’t remember anything between knockdowns.
“I don’t remember when I came back from the stool to go to the second round. From the stool, in between rounds, I wasn’t there anymore. This is just life, we don’t make any excuse. This is what we sign up for when you come to a sport like this. You always know that something like that can happen. This is a weird loss. Something that I wouldn’t like to experience, but I think it will stay as a defeat only if I don’t learn from it and come back from it.”
Ngannou will now return to MMA when he makes his PFL debut against Renan Ferreira on October 19.
