Tyson Fury v Francis Ngannou: Amir Khan says he helped instigate ‘Battle of the Baddest’ bout in Riyadh

Khan is confident “there’s going to be fireworks” when the bell finally rings but would the event have happened had it not been for the 36-year-old’s intervention?

“You’ve got two giants: Tyson Fury, one of the best heavyweight boxers out there, and you’ve got Ngannou, who is one of the best UFC fighters in the heavyweight division,” Khan said.

“Now, putting them both together you know there’s going to be fireworks come Saturday.”

He added, laughing: “I don’t know if you know this, but do you know who called Tyson first to say I’ve got a fight deal for you? Yeah, it was [me].

“I don’t like to take the full credit for it, but I was the one who said, ‘Look, I’ve got a fight for you. They want to come and see you’.

“I got them to fly from Dubai, all the way to where Tyson lives, Morecambe, they had a meeting there, and then boom, it got done, made. But listen, they forget about Amir Khan then, don’t they?

“It’s all good. At the end of the day, I did it because he’s my friend and I wanted to give him this opportunity because I fought here so why not?”

Khan says the Fury camp had been eyeing a fight with Anthony Joshua before the Ngannou deal was finalised.

Khan also expects Fury to get his hand raised but warned of the danger he faces in taking on the Cameroonian.

Asked if there was a chance of an upset, Khan said: “There is, definitely. If you look at the power he [Ngannou] has got, he’s knocking everyone out, whoever they put in front of him, he’s gone in there and sparked them out basically.

“Not really knocked them down and got the decision but knocked them out clean.

“He’s got power. Now I know he’s wearing a little bit heavier gloves, but he’s got more protection when he’s got those gloves on, so he’s going to put everything into it.

“He knows this is a massive opportunity for him, because this is life-changing. If he gets a win here, his next pay cheque is going to be a blank cheque.

“I think he’s going to grab this with both hands, and having Mike Tyson in his corner, that’s a good move, but what I’m quite surprised by is that Mike Tyson would not go in anyone’s corner if he didn’t think they could win.

“His reputation is on the line and he’s not going to throw that reputation down, especially when Tyson Fury got his name from Mike Tyson.

“He believes this guy could knock out Tyson Fury.”

Whatever happens, Fury is scheduled for another mega fight on December 23 against Oleksandr Usyk.

The Ukrainian beat Joshua twice before surviving a scare against Daniel Dubois to defend his WBA, WBO and IBF world titles.

Khan admitted the unification clash between Fury and Usyk is a “massive fight for boxing” but questioned the timing of the announcement at the end of September.

“Let’s just hope that Tyson is not taking his eye off this fight,” Khan continued. “I think it might have been a bit of a bad move by announcing the fight so close to this one because the pressure is going to be on Tyson now to put on a good performance.

“He has to win this fight otherwise that fight falls through or if it’s still going to happen, the interest is not going to be the same.

“On paper he wins this fight easy but in heavyweight boxing, you always are one punch away from getting hurt.”

And not only would an Ngannou victory impact the Fury-Usyk showdown, but it would also hurt the entire sport of boxing, according to Khan.

“I can’t see him getting beat, but if he got beat it’s a hit to boxing. It’s not a hit to Tyson Fury, it’s a massive hit to boxing,” Khan said.

“This is where UFC say, ‘We told you we were better than you guys’. What’s happening now is UFC and boxing are going at each other and UFC now has surpassed boxing numbers and they’re going to say because ‘we are a better sport than you’.

“So Tyson has all that pressure as well.”

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