Rico Verhoeven vs. Francis Ngannou

Rico gets dropped all the time these days. Ben Saddik is awful and he almost KO'd Rico simply cause he's big and has some power.

Ngannou would catch Rico with a counter and put him out.

 

No Usyk is still worried the man but this Rico fight is ****.

And I do hate the weird fans that have a cult like admriation for former Soviet fighters. It's just Usyk's turn as their golden boy.

 

I didn't lump you in with them? I mean, I would overall but I wouldn't say you three are part of those guys who've had as Usyk their #1 guy based on his recent work.

I thought Fury vs Ngannou was absolute bull**** too but at the very least it was significantly better, because Fury didn't hold three quarters of the belts and none of them were on line.

 

I think it was you and a few others who sold me on Usyk, then he went on to unify 200 and I was fully invested in him. When he moved to Heavyweight, I had my doubts, but I always picked him in every fight and he delivered.
A generational talent.

 

In pure Boxing? I disagree.

Rico never had much power in his hands, he wouldn't be able to take Ngannou out early like AJ. I can see the opposite happening tbh as Rico has been dropped quite a bit in his KB career.

 

Francis Ngannou vs Rico Verhoeven | Boxing News 24 Fan Forum

I made this thread a while back but it annoyingly got moved to the MMA forum, despite me asking it not to be.

This is what I said in the thread anyway.

"These guys are the undisputed heavyweight champions of both MMA and kickboxing. If you're gonna do "crossover fights", at least do it where neither guy has an unfair and obvious advantage.

Who do you think wins? My money would be on Ngannou. As I've mentioned before, he always wanted to be a boxer, but it was an MMA coach who noticed him first, and got him to transition to MMA. He got better at the wrestling later on in his UFC career, but the majority of the time was spent just knocking everybody out with his fists. Whereas Verhoeven is a natural and a seasoned veteran at what he does, a living legend of his sport, so you'd be taking away a big part of his game. I think Ngannou would be much more comfortable in there, and has had the recent experience with the Fury and Joshua fights. Verhoeven has had ONE boxing fight, 11 years ago now though, against a journeyman with a losing record, who he dispatched in two rounds. So basically, it tells us nothing. I do think Verhoeven would probably show a lot more actual skill though. But I think Ngannou's power will be the difference. I think this'd end up being a decent fight. Anyone else?"

And also this.

"Worth a mention though that Verhoeven has been used to the big gloves and the ropes for most of his life, rather than small gloves and a cage. Plus the knockdowns/10 second counts are the same, compared to ground-and-pound. Verhoeven definitely competes in the most similar of the sports. But as I said, Ngannou always wanted to do boxing, whereas Verhoeven has been doing kickboxing since he was seven years old. I like how both guys have their advantages, but in different ways. Makes for an intriguing match-up in my opinion."

 

They should make this fight. I think Ngannou wins by KO.

 

Ngannou by KO, probably early.

 

Rico by points or Ngannou by KO, both possible. If the final bell rings, Rico wins a decision, thats why I opened the other thread about Rico is skill-wise a better boxer as Ngannou or McGregor.

But imo without any shadow of a doubt Francis wins an MMA fight and Rico wins a K-1/Kickboxing fight.

 

In boxing both can win, either Rico by points or Ngannou by KO.

Ngannou wins in MMA, Rico wins in K-1

 

Ngannou KO. Rico isn’t bullying Ngannou around Ngannou is a massive human being with great grappling skills.