American lightweight boxing sensation Ryan Garcia is famed for his blistering fists but his power appeared to do little more than “tickle” UFC giant Francis Ngannou when the pair met for a training session.
The unbeaten Garcia – who holds the WBC silver lightweight title – invited MMA KO king Ngannou to his training ‘lab’ and shared a session he dubbed “the body shot challenge” in which Ngannou donned a belly pad and the boxer pounded away at him.
“The one-punch KO master. I’ve seen him fight, and now he’s here with me,” said Garcia in footage shared on Instagram with his 6.3 million followers.
“We’re going to do some stuff in the lab… getting ready for the body shot challenge. I might not even move him though.”
That prediction proved accurate as Garcia hammered away on the pads covering the Cameroonian giant’s midriff, only for the UFC star to be pushed back slightly while chuckling away.
Both men are emerging as masters of the their respective combat arts.
‘The Predator’ Ngannou needed all of 20 seconds to blast his way to victory in his last fight against the formerly undefeated Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC 249 earlier in May.
That was the 33-year-old man-mountain’s fourth KO win on the spin – with the longest of those fights lasting just over 1 minute.
Ngannou has also touted a potential switch to boxing, claiming he could face UK heavyweight Dillian Whyte, and even getting pointers from Mike Tyson in recent weeks.
Budding Californian boxing star Garcia, 21, is unbeaten in 20 professional bouts – with 17 of those victories coming by way of KO/TKO.
The last time he stepped between the ropes in February, Garcia needed just 80 seconds to obliterate Nicaragua’s Francisco Fonseca in their lightweight bout in California.
