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EP:164 The Untold Journey of Francis Ngannou: Desert Crossings and Fighting Dreams
We dive into the remarkable story of Francis Ngannou, from his harrowing journey out of Cameroon to his controversial boxing match against Tyson Fury.
• Francis Ngannou worked in sand mines in Cameroon starting at just eight years old
• The sand mine work involved moving 15-25 pounds of dirt 600-1000 times daily, building natural strength from childhood
• At age 22, Ngannou decided to journey to France to pursue his boxing dreams
• His journey included a four-day truck ride through the Sahara Desert with temperatures ranging from 120° to 20°
• Entering Europe required climbing multiple 20-foot barbed wire fences or crossing on dangerous inflatable rafts
• It took multiple attempts and arrests before Ngannou successfully made it to France
• Despite his natural boxing talent, a French boxing gym directed him toward MMA instead
• Ngannou went on to develop the world record for the hardest punch according to Guinness
• His recent performance against Tyson Fury showed what might have been possible had he been developed as a boxer from the start
• Many boxing fans believe Ngannou was robbed of a victory in his bout with Fury
Email us at doubleaclubpodcast@gmail.com and catch us on the next episode as we continue this fascinating topic.
You are listening to the Double A Club and this is your host, ny Boom, and my co-host, big Daz. We'll be talking about trending topics in healthcare and basically, just as a disclaimer just to let the listeners know that this is just basically on our opinions and speculations and I hope you guys enjoy the show. Let's start off and kick off with our first topic.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah Well, I got a story, you know. Checking it out, this actually got me in my attention when I'm looking up the Francis and fury fight. Oh, boxing. I said you're, you know, you got him say again Tyson Fury and Francis Negano.
Speaker 2:Yes, yep, yep. And when I saw that fight, even though Tyson Fury won, tyson Fury won because he just had the ability and skill. I don't agree with that decision, but it is what it is. Before you go on, you're telling you're, you're saying that you, you, you're saying that Tyson Fury won because of skill. That's no, it was, uh, it was determined because Francis knocked him down. Yeah, I think he won because they didn't want to take off. They didn't want to give a boxing belt to someone who's not in boxing, who's not from what? He's not in boxing, who?
Speaker 2:doesn't represent you know what I'm saying, because that fight was for the belt. They're not going to give it to Francis. The Fury won touching Francis. They were both touching and, to be honest with you, his shots were not really significant. They didn't have any effect on him. I know, that's what I'm saying. Like, his shots were not really significant, they didn't have any effect on me, I know. I know that's why I say that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Like, again, the only way I could see it as Tyson won is by points. And, to be honest with you, bro, I don't think because I saw the fight too right, I don't, and I'm trying to remember it. But what I remember about the fight is Tyson Fury did not show that much more skills than Francis. It was almost equal in a way. Yes, tyson did show a little bit more skills, but it wasn't much more. For someone whose first boxing match this was, tyson Fury should have outclassed him. It should have been a boxing clinic, yeah, and that's what everyone was expecting and that's not what we got. And they were like the judges were like well, we can't give this to Francis. Francis only fought once. We don't even know if he's going to fight another boxer again. Let's keep it.
Speaker 2:On Tyson, I agree, that's what I saw too. Yeah, and that's kind of what I was trying to say, because I was saying that you know, I don't agree with decision that they made I did say that part too but Because I do think that Francis should have won jury, was I mean that got beat, anyway. But I was looking up Francis, anyway, but I was looking up Francis' story and this man's story is pretty fucking crazy. Yeah, it should be a movie because this was what I saw. What I saw was pretty, pretty, pretty like traumatizing, like this dude is the legend in this country.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he definitely had a very hard hard life you know, as Americans, we talk about how difficult it is for us, how hard it is. You need to. You need to walk with francis and shoot it to understand yeah yeah, this is a damn.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly like I. I just had to like, look this up and figure it out, go ahead. So, francis, francis, sorry, francis Neganu, well, I don't even have his name. Oh, here he is, francis Neganu, from Cameroon, cameroon, south Africa. Sell some incredible tobacco leaves over there. I didn't even know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's the only reason why I know, because I'm a cigar guy too. Nice, okay, anyways, over there they start working as children Like.
Speaker 2:This dude worked in a sand mine, I think eight years old, I think eight years old. He had no, he had nothing for school, he didn't have pencils or paper, and he went to school. Yeah, he went to school, he started school and he didn't even have enough money to get himself. Because, uh, I guess in the culture is really different out there over there, everybody fends for themselves after a certain age, and we're talking about like five. Yeah, like once you could walk and grab stuff, you could fend for yourself. So, anyways, that's the traditions out there, I guess I don't know, not too sure, but I guess that's how poor they were, that the kid had to work too. And the kid works in a sand mine now.
Speaker 2:Sand mine's, now sand mines are a pretty brutal fucking job and there's probably mad health code that drives so crazy Violations. Yeah, first of all, you got kids working there. That's a violation right there. Yeah, yes, I know, yeah, you don't have to hold so they don't give a shit. So you know what I'm saying. I mean, that's how, that, that's why, um, like, for example, like when you buy um these cell phones or these new electric vehicles, and they have this lithium battery. That's what you're supporting. You're supporting these countries that have that allow young children to work in these disgusting environments, digging dirt, sand, grass, whatever gravel, just to find this fucking particle. To make us Americans happen. Yeah, yeah, it's really crazy. You're pretty much nailed it on the burn right there. Like the jobs that they have to be shame minded.
Speaker 2:Moving the dirt. Moving the dirt is, excuse me, moving the dirt is like that's a forever job. There's, there's no stopping that job, because these are mountains of dirt that they're just a bunch of kids and just grabbing shovels. Kids ain't teenagers. There's really no adults here. There's a few of them, and old people, parents, women, you know, and everybody on this job would have a shovel and just take as much as you can and move it over, take as much as you can and move it over and eventually you're going to move that whole pile and we're talking about maybe a year. That's madness to me, but anyways, then you have the.
Speaker 2:I guess they like clean the rocks, the big rocks, and take the dirt off of it. That was another job. That was pretty much all the jobs that they had, like two jobs, oh, and the mud, the mud one. There was some people working in mud Trying to get the mud Anything in the mud of it. I guess, like cleaning it, yeah, so yeah. Anyways, it was that's a crazy job right there.
Speaker 2:And he was one of the sand movers, so he was one of the sand movies, this. So he was getting strong from young. You know you're doing, you're picking up a shovel and moving about. I would say 20, maybe 25 thousand out there, 15, 25 pounds of weight and you just toss it in, maybe, in his case you could probably say about easily from 600 to 1,000 times a day. You know that's strong, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course that's real strong right there, like you developing core, wow, that's crazy and it's non-stop. Non-stop. That dude was sore for for a week is a lifetime. That's it, building natural muscle, natural muscle as a child.
Speaker 2:So right there, and this dude's like what, how tall is he? How tall is he Six, seven or six, five? He's pretty fucking tall, right, yeah, he's like six, five, six, four. Tyson Fury's six, seven, I believe. Right, yeah, he's like 6'5", 6'4". Tyson Fury's 6'7", I believe. Right, yeah, I think. So I'm not too sure. He's slightly shorter, so I would say 6'5". Yeah, yeah, because I know he's taller than me.
Speaker 2:So that whole stunt in your growth when you work out as a kid, is that out the window? It's a myth, yeah, it's a myth. I don't even know why they would lie like that. That's crazy. So anyway, as a child he's working there and he, his first love was actually boxing. Like out of fighting, he actually won. He actually saw a Tyson fight from there. He loved boxing. So I guess he was working at the sand mine age of 22.
Speaker 2:At the age of 22, he decides to guys to go to Paris, france, and this trip over there to get to Paris. She was in Paris where he went. No, he went to France, france, france, yeah, he went to France. Yo, that is. This story is crazy. So to get over there he had to drive through the desert.
Speaker 2:Now, the drive through desert I think was I think he said was like three mothers, my dog, a four day drive and they barely stop and if you fall off you die, like there's no coming back to you. They're not stopping, they're not pulling over for you and you're holding on to other people the whole drive. You know you're going to piss on yourself, you're going to shit on yourself. You're next to all these people and the fucking truck is packed Like there's no room. Everybody's on top of each other. As a matter of fact, you're holding on to these people Because everybody's holding on for dear life to not stop on the ride. So everybody in the middle, they good, but they they're gonna smell all the piss and shit through the whole ride.
Speaker 2:The people outside the like, the perimeter I mean the top like truck, the lip of the truck, because they're using it as a chair. They got to hold on for dear life for four days while the car is driving, hitting every bump, going up, going down the hills, they're taking a piss and shitting on people behind them. They're shitting and pissing on people. That's holding them for their life. That's fucking mad to me. And then, on top of that, the weather of the fucking he does it in the daytime Fucking hot as hell, and nighttime is freezing.
Speaker 2:And the whole time you're driving you may stop twice a day just for, like, I guess they have to fill up the gas and that's all. They stop and for and that that pit stop right. There is your time to whatever, do whatever you gotta do, and then you're back on the truck. The driver might take a coffee break or a cigarette break. So that's mad. And then someone passed us through the desert, because that that's fucking mad to me. I can imagine that sand just hitting them the whole ride because they're probably doing like 100 or 70 miles per hour the whole ride. Because they're probably doing like 100 or 70 miles per hour the whole time. Yeah, I may think like 120, not nothing, they're not driving that fast, but definitely 70, 70 to 80 miles per hour they're probably hitting. And that's I can imagine those people sore as fuck when they come back, when they get off that truck.
Speaker 2:4 days, holding on for 4 days, yeah, that's pretty tough. That's pretty tough. What the hell fucking Yo, the grip that they fucking build Yo. So from there you get, he has to, he has to get the goal to get the friend happy, passes the test, he drives up, drives up the north shit, I didn't even know it goes from. I'm sorry for bringing this back.
Speaker 2:The day and night thing. The weather in the, in the, in the desert, is, I have yo. It ranges. It goes as high as 120 and as low as 20 degrees. That's fucking, that's mad yo. The the sahara doesn't. It's crazy. Yes, the sahara doesn't, but they, he drove through the sahara, sahara, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's another thing. Like All I kinda All they had to Take, all they really took, all he took Was his clothes On his back and a bottle of water, and that's pretty much All he had Shit. This is so. And people had Very little things. That's pretty much all he had Shit. This is so. And people had very little things. Because you can't have too much stuff in the truck. There's no space. Everybody wanted to get the space out of there, so.
Speaker 2:So he gets up out of the desert and to get into France At this point he has to get over a fence. You know he has two options. You either go up the the fence, jump over the fence, which is not one fence, actually a shim of a country. I Think it's like four or five times Hello. Or you take the water out and the water is going taking and the water is going taking. I'm going to explain the water one first, because the water is crazy, but the fence to me is anyways, the water to get over, to get around on the water. They take a big ass raft like air raft. It's filled up with air. Yeah, it's an air raft, it's filled up with air. Yeah, it's an air raft. Yeah, and it holds at least 30 people. This is a big ass air like balloon.
Speaker 2:That's all it is, that's what it looks like ships have that for, like, in case the ship goes down. They use that as a safety thing, but that's not something that they rely on. You know what I'm saying? It's not it's just to get them out so they don't drown, but it's not something that you want to travel with. Yeah, so this is what they're going on with, and it takes them about two days to get over there, and so because they have to do it, like, at a certain route, so they don't get seen or anything, and then once they do land, they got to run in because they're getting chased by cops. The cops are seeing. They already see them there at that point. Yeah, it's kind of border patrol here with the Mexicans. Yeah, that was crazy.
Speaker 2:So the fence, now the fence. The fence is crazy because the fence has, I think, one, two, three, a drop, four. Okay, so the fence first off is like 20 feet tall, except for the last one, which is like 30 to 40 feet tall because there's a drop before you hit it. And all of these fences have barbed wires on them on, either on the top or the bottom, and some of them have the barbed wires that are on, like they're on the different barbed wires. You got the loop barbed wires and you have the, the barbed wires with the, with the metal rod holding them together, holding them to separate them in the three lines.
Speaker 2:I guess, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the best way I can explain it. So he has to Climb over each one of them. Now, the way they do this Is that they all bum rush it, everybody Bum rushes the fence and Hopefully you get over in time Before the cops catch you, because the cops, they, they go through a frenzy like just snagging people up. Yeah, so these things are like crazy because yo to climb a 24-day, crazy because yo to climb a 24 gate, like that's what is that? Like damn near two stories, like a story and a half, probably, yeah, and they're getting shot by sandbags too. Oh, nice, cause the cops are shooting with sandbags and you're talking about like riot unit unit. Like these cops are shielded turtle, they're turtled up, they got the, the shield and they they running at these niggas hitting them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, jesus, so, and not the nine. He actually failed. He didn't get over, so his like seventh time. So he did it seven times. Yeah, I believe that was the number. I didn't get enough time to get it, but I believe I know he got caught. He definitely didn't a lot, he did like five or seven it's in that range Because he got arrested that many times and he got caught. But he also tried the raft too. I think he got caught. So, but he also tried the raft too. So I think he got caught on that one also gotcha. But then he finally made it, finally made it and he got into boxing. He went to a boxing gym. He wanted to get into boxing. He got into a boxing gym. He wanted to get into boxing. He got into a boxing gym, trained. He was doing boxing training, but they told him that MMA was his opening yeah, I wonder, Huh, I wonder why they told him MMA.
Speaker 2:To be honest with you, he should have been in boxing. Yeah, I think so too. But the dudes are all around. He's a monster. He's chucking fucking fans at under 10 years old bro. Yeah, that dude's a beast. Yeah, he is. But yeah, so that's how he got his career started. That's where he started his career. That was the origin of his career in MMA. He was in the boxing gym. He got pretty nice in the boxing gym but they told him his opening is in MMA and then he just started MMA, started kicking ass. That dude's probably stoned, bro. I'm going to tell you right now, that boxing gym probably is slapping themselves fucking silly because if they knew the potential of this guy probably is slapping themselves fucking silly because if they knew the potential of this guy boxing, they probably would have kept him and he would have helped grow that boxing.
Speaker 2:It's just that he couldn't get him in. Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's that difficult to get someone in the boxing. You know what I'm saying? I don't know, I don't know. Let me tell you something. Francis Ngannou is known for having a world record hardest punch. How the hell do you not have that as a boxer? Yeah, you know what I'm saying the hardest punch, world record, guinness hardest punch world record, guinness, guinness world record For having the hardest punch. And you send this motherfucker to MMA.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I ain't.
Speaker 2:He's not saying he didn't have a good career in MMA. He had a great career in MMA. He wasn't really an MMA fighter Because he wasn't a grapp. He had a great career in MMA. He wasn't really an MMA fighter because he wasn't a grappler. He wasn't a jiu-jitsu, he wasn't a wrestler, he was more of a puncher. He knocked people out. He was stupid enough to stand with him. He can't stand with that motherfucker. You know what I'm saying. You're going to wake up not knowing what just happened. You know what I'm saying. So, but I think, I think he would have had a better career in boxing, boxing, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2:Especially then. Then now you know what I'm saying it would have been way better. I agree it could have been worse, but the the issue that was that he needed money. Yes, that's what it was. He needed money and they probably just wanted to send him away stuff like that. I don't know. I know right now Fox and Jim was like fucking slapping themselves because they could have had Francis Negani.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean they probably do that. Nah, that motherfucker Never going there. I don't know, I don't know about that, I don't know anything there. But I'll tell you this when he trained for Tyson Fury Actually, when he was training For MMA, right he trained in the performance institute A lot. When he trained for Tyson Fury Actually, when he was training for MMA, right yeah, he trained in the Performance Institute a lot. That's the UFC's camp in Las Vegas. They have their own training camp facility. It's open to any of the fighters who want to go there and study and do that. That's where he went.
Speaker 2:He went to the Performance Institute to learn MMA, right, to get affluent for MMA. When he, he took this Tyson Fury fight, right? Guess who trained him? Mike Tyson Exactly. Now, they did not go to that fucking camp in France because that camp in France fucked him over by sending him to another thing that I mean, even though he was successful in it, he could have been way more successful in boxing. So, guess what? He's never going back there, and that place is never even mentioned in any other articles. Did they tell you the name of that boxing camp? When you, when you look, this information up?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think they did, because I tell you right now, whenever I see Francis Ngannou In an interview, he definitely gives Performance Institute a shout out. He doesn't give anything else. He doesn't talk about anybody Any other thing. I've never heard him mention anything about boxing. Okay, I don't know. Talk about anybody any other thing. I've never heard him mention anything about boxing. Okay, I don't know. Yeah, you might be right, because I don't even have it. Yeah, so I'm just saying I'm just bringing it up because that camp fucked up on that. They missed on, they missed out on real dollar signs because they weren't getting dollar signs at the time. Yeah, so go on, go on. Well, I mean that's when he just started getting into MMA. He had a couple of fights and he had a couple of career fights. He had a couple of losses. I think he had like two losses or something. Yeah, he didn't have that many. I mean those losses were big losses. I mean I think one of the losses, actually, I think both those losses he lost by wrestling, grappling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Noling.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that was his weakness was the grappling. I mean, the guy is a natural boxer, he's not a natural MMA guy. So I'm just flabbergasted that that boxing gym didn't see the potential, because I know, I mean, if he has a world record now, I know back then he punched fucking hard too. You know what I'm saying? Not world record, but he still punched hard. How do you not see, you know the talent, the talent here, and not imagine that if I train this guy and show him skills and he implements that talent with the skills I'm teaching him how incredible this guy's going to be, how special he could be. I don't know how that boxing gym did not fucking see that. Yeah, like like the old Tyson trainer I forget his name, sorry, I apologize the older white guy.
Speaker 2:I wish I knew that would train Mike Tyson, the old man, what's his name? Yeah, I don't remember it right now, but that guy see, my point is that guy, he saw something in Tyson. You know what I'm saying. Even the guy who brought Tyson to that man saw something in Tyson. You know what I'm saying. They saw something in Tyson and they were like yo, I'm going to take his talent, I'm going to develop his skill set, I'm going to develop his skill set and we're going to his talent with my skill set. That I'm teaching him and I'm going to make him special. And the same thing even with George Foreman.
Speaker 2:If you look at, if you see the George Foreman movie that just came out, that came out not too long ago, right, the George Foreman movie that just came out, that came out not too long ago, right? Even that, even in that movie, the guy sees something, something he sees a skill, I mean a talent. The guy has no skills, but he sees a talent in him and talent is something that he has, right. So I'm going to send him somewhere so someone can build him his skills. And if he adds this skill, skill, with this talent, he could probably be special.
Speaker 2:How the fuck does that boxing gym not see the same shit, all these incredible famous trainers who created these incredible famous world heavyweight fucking champions not see that in Francis, when Francis had the same or similar fucking talent as all of those motherfuckers? How, how, how? You know what I'm saying, how, how I'll take a valid point. Yeah, it's like fuck that boxing gym, fuck that boxing gym. All right, like for real. Fuck that boxing gym for not fucking seeing Francis' fucking talent and adding his skill set to his fucking talent and we could all be fucking flourishing and Francis Nagano being an incredible fucking boxer. Right now, when we need fucking incredible boxers and boxers. You're right, fuck that gym. Especially a heavyweight, a good heavyweight For real. You know what I'm saying? I'm not going to take anything away from Tyson Fury. He's a good heavyweight, a good heavyweight For real. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not gonna take anything away from Tyson Fury. He's a good heavyweight, but he's not A real fucking. Like a real fucking heavyweight. Like, like he doesn't fight. Like a real fucking heavyweight. He's not laying motherfuckers out.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying? Like real heavyweight, yeah, so no. Fuck that gym. Fuck that boxing gym, bro. Real heavyweight, yeah. So no, fuck that gym, fuck that boxing gym, bro. I mean, that's it pretty much it, because then he becomes a boxer and finally got the title fight. Damn near I think he won it, but, you know, lost by decision. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but here's the thing right. You know it was my decision. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but here's the thing right. How many years do you think we're going to see this guy box?
Speaker 2:I mean that dude is like he's over 40. Oh really I think so, or he's close to 40. He's old, he's an older guy, much older, much, really older. You know what I'm saying? How many more years are we going to see of this guy? And then, even if we do see a couple of years, he's not going to develop a really good skill set to like five, six, maybe even seven years from now. So by then he's done, he's retired. His body's not going to be able to keep up that shitty-ass boxing gym in fucking France fucked us over from seeing an incredible boxer in fucking heavyweight division, because now it's too fucking crazy, francis.
Speaker 2:That's why Boomer's really hating that Frans gym. No, for real, bro. That Frans boxing gym is an SMD and you know what that means Suck many dicks. The boomstick spoke yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Double A Club. Listen to us next episode to continue this topic. If you want to reach us on the email, it's doubleaclubpodcast at gmailcom. Catch you on the next one.
