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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Farah Hannoun

Henry Cejudo would ‘bet the house’ on Francis Ngannou in boxing – with UFC gloves

Francis Ngannou possesses the ultimate equalizer in MMA, but Henry Cejudo doesn’t see it being a factor in boxing.

Ngannou has knocked out the likes of Curtis Blaydes, Junior dos Santos, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Stipe Miocic en route to capturing the UFC heavyweight title.

Now that Ngannou has parted ways with the UFC, he can finally realize his lifelong dream of boxing. But how would he fair? Cejudo says not very well, unless the gloves were different.

“His chances of winning in boxing are very slim unless they’re unified rules and the gloves are that much smaller,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel.

When boxing champion Tyson Fury and Ngannou were teasing a potential fight, Fury mentioned the possibility of them boxing in MMA gloves. If that’s the case, then Cejudo really likes Ngannou’s chances.

“Francis Ngannou has heavy hands but that ten-ounce gloves is gonna take a lot of that power away from him… I would give Francis Ngannou a chance if the gloves were smaller,” Cejudo said. “If there were literally UFC gloves like, ‘Alright guys, you guys go out there and fight.’ I would almost bet the house with Francis.

“But the simple fact is that if it does go to boxing, Francis is in trouble. I mean there’s a stoppage in them like you just can’t go against the heavyweight champion of the world and think because you have knockout power, that you’re gonna knock him out. Could anything happen? 100 percent. But the probabilities of that happening are very slim.”

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