Sports personality Stephen A. Smith was complimentary of Francis Ngannou following his performance against Tyson Fury in Riyadh, but he wasn’t quite as nice when talking about heavyweight boxing’s biggest stars and the state of the division as a whole.
Emanating from Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia, ‘The Predator’ made his professional boxing debut nearly two years removed from his last appearance inside the Octagon. Strapping on the eight-ounce gloves for a clash with WBC heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury, many expected ‘The Gypsy King’ to dog-walk his novice opposition.
After two rounds of holding his own, Ngannou blasted Fury with a counter-left that planted him on the canvas. From that point on, Fury knew he was in for something more than a glorified sparring session.
In the end, Fury came out on top in a much-maligned split decision that separated the two fighters by a single point. Offering his take on the contest, via his YouTube channel, analyst Stephen A. Smith believes Ngannou could be a serious player in the heavyweight division with some fine-tuning.
Then he proceeded to drag the entire heavyweight division through the mud, suggesting that it is in desperate need of some star power.
“If Francis Ngannou really learns to box, the heavyweight division could be very interesting,” Smith said. “This isn’t the days of Muhammad Ali with George Foreman and Joe Frazier. And then as time went on, the Ken Norton’s of the world and others. This isn’t that time when the heavyweight division was considered elite. This isn’t even the time when you had Mike Tyson and the ‘Razor’ Ruddock’s of the world.
“When you look at the heavyweight division, who do you really see? Am I supposed to get excited about [Oleksandr] Usky? Am I supposed to get excited about Anthony Joshua who’s got a questionable jaw?
Was Francis Ngannou robbed against Tyson Fury? pic.twitter.com/fZ5H7kEHYH
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) October 30, 2023
Stephen A. Smith Believes There is a Place for Francis Ngannou in Boxing’s Heavyweight Division
In the video, which you can see below, Smith questions how things may have played out if Ngannou had been fighting knockout artist Deontay Wilder rather than Tyson Fury. Perhaps we won’t have to wait long to find out based on some comments ‘The Predator’ made during his appearance on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.
For now, Smith is content to ask those questions and simply ponder the answer, but he knows that it all leads to one glaring conclusion; Francis Ngannou belongs in boxing.
“Those questions make it very interesting because what it means is that Francis Ngannou should stay in boxing… because he could make some noise in the heavyweight division. He ain’t in the UFC anymore. What better place is there for him than the sport of boxing?”
Watch the full video below:
