Dillian Whyte Sent Francis Ngannou ‘Berserk’ In Unreleased Interview

Dillian Whyte has been relentlessly pursuing a fight with UFC knockout artist Francis Ngannou, in recent weeks. Their rivalry escalated on Wednesday when the WBC interim heavyweight champion labelled ‘The Predator’ as ‘the most boring man on the planet’.

The exchange drew interest from fans of boxing and MMA alike, which led to longtime sports promoter Eddie Hearn, scheduling an interview between the two heavyweights. According to the Matchroom Boxing CEO, a heated debate ensued. However, UFC president Dana White was unaware of the media fixture and objected to its release.

Dana White Blocked The Footage

Hearn told iFL TV (as transcribed by The Mac Life) that he thought that Ngannou would have informed his bosses about the interview in advance.

“We did it and then the press release follows, ‘Eddie Hearn to stage press conference with Whyte and UFC star Ngannou.

“All of a sudden we got a phone call from Team Ngannou, ‘Oh, you can’t put it out, we didn’t tell the UFC about it. I said, ‘How can you not tell the UFC about it? Anyway we were due to [release] it the next day, and Dana messaged me with a screenshot of the press release and he said, ‘What’s this?’

“I said, ‘No, no, all it is is an interview,’ Hearn said. ‘Our team didn’t know anything about that. I said, ‘I’m really sorry, I expected him to tell you, do you want me to pull it down?’

“He just said, ‘I’d rather do something all together. I didn’t wanna fall out with him and I don’t think their promotional team were overly pleased that they didn’t know anything about it. In hindsight, we probably should’ve told them about it, but I just expected Ngannou to do that.”

‘Ngannou Went Absolutely Berserk…’

Footage of their verbal exchange may not have been released but Hearn was able to reveal some of the details from the interview. Including, a section where Whyte apparently made Ngannou go ‘berserk’.

“I’ve still got the footage, we may even put it out with the UFC. It’s quite good, there’s one bit in there. Dillian Whyte was on a bit of a wind-up and told Ngannou that Joe Joyce dropped him in sparring, and that Sam Jones (Joyce’s manager) told him. And Ngannou went absolutely berserk, berserk. Said he’s going to phone Sam Jones now.”

Sparring With Undefeated Boxers

Undefeated heavyweight boxer Joe Joyce spent a day training with Ngannou earlier in the year and his manager, Sam Jones revealed to Sky Sports that ‘The Predator’ has got all of the right skills to begin a career in boxing.

“Let me tell you something about Ngannou – he can box at a high level. We were going to spar inside the cage – we had no problem doing that, as long as it was just boxing. But he said no, and he came to our gym in Vegas.

“Ngannou was standing in a weird stance. Then just stood upright and started throwing huge bombs at Joe’s head. It took Joe a round to work him out. Ngannou and Joe went eight rounds of holding their feet. It was the most entertaining spar I’ve ever seen Joe in.

“They went to war. They traded right hands for fun. Ngannou was throwing his right hand from his boots. Ngannou has a great chin. Everybody knows Joe does too. I told Ngannou after the spar, ‘You can [come to boxing] no problem, this is easy for you’.

“Ngannou is one of the strongest men you will ever see in any combat sport.”

Meanwhile, Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing have disclosed plans to host a series of fights in the grounds of their headquarters throughout July. Whyte was expected to headline one of these events against Alexander Povetkin for the WBC interim heavyweight title. However, a superfight with Ngannou may now take priority.

Do you think that Francis Ngannou would pose a threat to Dillian Whyte in the boxing ring?


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