Francis Ngannou‘s performance against Tyson Fury on Saturday night took many, including Mike Tyson, by surprise. Tyson, a legendary heavyweight who played a coaching role for Ngannou, marveled at what they achieved as a team.

Tyson mentioned to SecondsOut.com that it was a collaborative effort with Dewey Cooper. Their combined efforts with Ngannou produced a performance that exceeded their expectations. Mike Tyson said:

“First of all it was a team effort… we can’t take nothing away from them…we put our heads and hearts together and we got a performance that even we didn’t anticipate.”

– Mike Tyson via SecondsOut

Yet, Tyson did not argue that Ngannou deserved the victory. The only few comments he made in this regard were around the fact that it was a closely contested fight against the greatest fighter. Francis Ngannou is a former UFC heavyweight champion who knocked down Tyson Fury in the third round of their highly anticipated matchup. Notably, this was Ngannou’s debut in professional boxing while Tyson Fury is the WBC heavyweight champion. Ngannou definitely defied expectations of a one-sided contest.

Regardless, Tyson Fury ultimately scored the victory via split decision. However, Mike Tyson expressed his optimism for Ngannou’s future. Ngannou remains undeterred by the loss, believing he won the fight, and requested a rematch. However, Fury’s next challenge will be against Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship.

Mike Tyson training Francis Ngannou could be a potential movie plot

Mike Tyson envisioned a potential Hollywood-worthy tale emerging from his collaboration with Francis Ngannou. Tyson revealed to ESPN that he received a call regarding training Ngannou and enthusiastically accepted, recognizing the cinematic potential of their journey.

Brett Okamoto reported Tyson’s story where he revealed how he took up the task of training Francis Ngannou. Tyson said:

"I said, 'Let's do it.' It's his story. They are going to make a movie out of this…"

– Mike Tyson to Brett Okamoto

Francis Ngannou is a former UFC champion. He boasts a dominant 17 wins and 3 losses record in the heavyweight division. Twelve of those wins came by knockout. However, disagreements with the UFC made him decide to leave the promotion. After months of unpredictability, he signed a very lucrative deal with the PFL. Now with an incredible performance in his debut fight, Ngannou has opened up a whole new arena for himself in the realm of boxing. One which the MMA fighter intends to explore further.