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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Josh Challies

Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou told to copy Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor

Top Rank president Todd duBoef is backing Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou to face-off in the boxing ring, urging them to follow in the footsteps of Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather to promote a fight.

The two fighters have spoken publicly about a potential crossover bout in the boxing ring, increasing the likelihood of a future bout.

Ngannou is out of contract with UFC following his upcoming bout and has stated he wants a clause allowing him to fight in the boxing ring if he is to renew - which would be a significant change of approach from UFC.

Previously, McGregor was pardoned from his UFC contract to face-off against Mayweather and duBoef believes a massive promotion drive to emulate their fight should be utilised.

“It has a sexy little synergy to it. How much does Fury want it? How much does Ngannou want it?” he told MMA Fighting.

“We know that [Floyd] Mayweather and [Conor] McGregor really wanted it, and they were the driving force behind getting that done.

"At the end of the day, it may be the athletes that drive their respective partners to push that done.

“I think it does fantastic in Vegas and the reason why I say that is, looking from a perspective of pay-per-view, I think there would be a very, very big appetite on U.S. pay-per-view for that fight.

"What we’ve seen with Fury coming from the U.K., the U.K. audience is used to staying up late and paying for the pay-per-view.”

“To have the biggest, baddest man of MMA and the biggest, baddest man of boxing meet in the ring is a no-brainer. There’s not much hype you have to do there.”

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