Photos: YouTube Screenshots
LAS VEGAS AND RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA — Cameras surround a ring at a gym Francis Ngannou has opened himself in Las Vegas. For years, Ngannou could be seen every day at the UFC Performance Institute, but his scenery changed in 2023. A full-size boxing ring takes center stage in the facility, with the word “GIMIK” printed loudly above it. A trolling nod to the notion some have that his crossing over into the boxing world is nothing more than a farce. But at least on the surface, today, he looks like a boxer.
And nothing might aid that visual more than the man by his side: Mike Tyson.
Tyson watches intently and occasionally stops Ngannou and his coach Dewey Cooper to demonstrate a technique. That Tyson power is still there, but Tyson’s instructions are surprising.
“I don’t like power,” Tyson says. “Power only matters and if you can land it.”
