Tyson Fury says he is ‘like an Adonis’ and in ‘peak physical shape’ for Francis Ngannou ‘Battle of the Baddest’

Tyson Fury says he is feeling “like an Adonis” ahead of his ‘Battle of the Baddest’ bout against Francis Ngannou, which is live on TNT Sports Box Office on Saturday night.

The ‘Gypsy King’ has been in camp preparing for the fight and says he has been assiduous in his preparation for the clash with Ngannou in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

While he will have to cope with Ngannou’s monstrous power, the WBC heavyweight champion was bounding with energy ahead of the ‘Battle of the Baddest’.

“I’m like an Adonis in shape ready to smash someone’s face right in,” Fury said in an interview with TNT Sports on Thursday.

Ngannou will swap the Octagon for the boxing ring on the night, and speaking on his relationship with his opponent, Fury added that he was going to “chin” the former UFC heavyweight champion and that there would be no love lost between the pair during the fight.

When asked whether he thought his opponent was a nice guy, the Manchester-born fighter said: “Well he’s not the nicest guy in the world on the night, I’m going to chin him.

“We’re worst enemies for whatever it is 30 minutes – and then we can be best friends after that.”

Fury, who recently announced that he would fight Oleksandr Usyk to unify the heavyweight division after Saturday’s bout, last stepped into the ring in December 2022, when he defeated Derek Chisora via a technical knockout in their trilogy bout.

Prior to that, the 35-year-old had beaten Dillian Whyte in April of that year.

“He [Ngannou] is going to need big ‘cojones’ to fight me. So if he can bring them to the ring, he’ll have a fight. If not he’ll have some trouble.”

Speaking about his open workout, Fury added: “Did you see me in that ring? I was moving like a 22-year-old Tyson Fury. I’m back!”

Fury admitted that there has been some uncertainty this year over who he would square up against, with plans to fight against Anthony Joshua and Usyk both breaking down in the past 12 months.

“It’s been a long, hard year,” he said. ”Lot’s of uncertainty. Didn’t know if I was coming or going at one stage.

“Here I am today in peak fitness. I’m in peak physical shape and I’ve got a fight on Saturday and it’s really real. I’m really buzzing. As you can see I’m in a very, very good mood. And I cannot wait to fight.”

“Listen, it’s fight week,” Fury said. “I’m always edgy. Because if you weren’t edgy and a little bit nervous about what could happen, then you wouldn’t be focused and ready to fight really.”

His opponent Ngannou will swap his MMA gloves for a pair of boxing mitts on Saturday and has opened up on his transition to the sport.

Speaking on the similarities between the two disciplines and whether he thought boxing was trickier, the former UFC champion said: “Boxing is definitely technical. I always knew that boxing was technical.

“It’s hard and it’s different. I’m used to something else. I have to come into this one, even for my body to adjust to this – it’s a different animal. MMA is a beast, boxing is another beast.

“They are both different but I just have to adapt and I just make my body adapt to it.”

‘The Predator’, who boasts an impressive 17-3-0 record in the UFC, added that he was “excited” to step into the ring this weekend, with his last professional bought coming against Ciryl Gane in January 2022.

During that fight, he defended his heavyweight belt with a unanimous decision, but added that it feels great to be back fighting.

“It feels great, it feels fantastic and I’m very excited,” he added. “The fight itself, the organisation, everything has been a level up [ahead of] the fight.”

Ngannou also admitted he has been learning a lot about boxing by working hard away from his sparring sessions to analyse his mistakes.

He said: “Basically after sparring every time when I go home, I have to study the sparring story in my mind like what I did wrong, the mistake that I did, how I can do better, how I can approach it differently.

“And this has been the same process during the whole fight, which is something that I wasn’t thinking about when I used to spar or when I used to do boxing sparring when I used to fight in MMA.

“I wasn’t thinking so deep in boxing detail. But now it’s quite different.”

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