Francis Ngannou is not interested in facing Jake Paul in the boxing ring. The Cameroonian-French heavyweight mixed martial artist simply said “No” when asked if there was a possibility of fighting the Cleveland YouTuber turned pro boxer.
Paul (12-1, 7 KOs) appears to be in a situation where he needs to secure a new opponent for his scheduled November 14 outing, live on Netflix from the Kaseya Center in Miami. His exhibition matchup with Baltimore’s lightweight champion Gervonta Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) is in jeopardy due to legal issues involving “Tank.”
Ngannou, who is 0-2 in boxing with losses to Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, had been rumored – alongside other fighters such as “AJ” and Ryan Garcia – as a potential replacement for Davis.
“No,” Ngannou told TMZ regarding a fight with Jake Paul. “There is no such thing happening.”
“How can they go from Gervonta Davis to Francis Ngannou? Gervonta Davis is a fantastic boxer and a one-shot knockout artist. But, come on – the weight difference and everything. It makes no sense.”
“No bro, come on, don’t disrespect me like that. It’s not about the number [money]. If it was about the number, I would have told you. I’m just not interested – it makes no sense to me. It’s not what I’m looking at right now.”
With Paul’s next ring appearance approaching, Most Valuable Promotions is expected to make a formal announcement regarding the event shortly.