Tyson
Fury is set to take on former Ultimate Fighting Championship
heavyweight champion Francis
Ngannou in a crossover boxing match on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia. Fellow Brit and UFC heavyweight Tom
Aspinall will be helping “The Gypsy King” as a training partner
going into the bout.
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Fury is close to Aspinall and has a high opinion UFC heavyweight
contender, who is currently 6-1 in the promotion with all of his
wins coming by way of submission or technical knockout in Round
1.
“I’m bringing him in as a sparring partner in preparation for a UFC
champion. He’s a good fighter, probably could have made it as a pro
boxer,” Fury recently told
TNT Sports. “I was quite sure he would have gone on and won a
world championship. But he had a derailment with his knee, and that
fell out. Now he’s had his comeback trail. I think he can do it.
He’s big enough, he’s got the power, he’s a black belt in
jiu-jitsu.”
Aspinall recently scored a first-round technical knockout win over
Marcin
Tybura in July to bounce back from a fight-ending knee injury
that also accounts for his lone UFC loss. The 30-year-old has since
issued a callout to heavyweight champ Jon Jones, who
defends his title against Stipe
Miocic at UFC 295 on Nov. 11.
While he admits to it being a tough call, Fury believes if anyone
can beat “Bones” it is his friend.
“Jon Jones is the Tyson Fury of boxing. People are unable to beat
him,” Fury said. “Very tough one. Even though Tom Aspinall’s a
mate, Jon Jones is probably considered the greatest of all time in
MMA, so I don’t know… It’s probably like, can anyone beat Wladimir
Klitschko before Tyson Fury beat him? Probably not, but then Tyson
Fury beat him. So if anyone can beat Jon Jones, it’ll be Tom
Aspinall. Nobody else.”