Global football star Ronaldo surprise Ngannou ahead of fury fight

FRANCIS NGANNOU has thanked Cristiano Ronaldo after the football icon gifted the boxer a £110,000 watch.

The Cameroonian fighter will take on the WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Ngannou, 37, is the former undisputed UFC heavyweight champion following his win against Ciryl Gane in January 2022.

But since his departure from the sport earlier this year after failing to agree on a new contract, he has chased big fights in the boxing world.

And the heavy-weight fighter has received the biggest bout of them all as his first boxing outing is against the self-named ‘Gypsy King’.

With the Riyadh clash just days away football superstar Ronaldo has gifted Ngannou a lavish watch as a token of his support.

The Al-Nassr star gave Ngannou a watch worth a reported half a million Saudi riyals or £110,000.

And the ex-UFC star took to social media to share a video of his reaction to the watch being presented to him.

When the pair first met in January, the Portuguese legend convinced the Ngannou that the Gulf state is “the future of sports.”

Now thanks to Ronaldo’s pep talk the biggest fight of the year is just around the corner.

Ngannou said: “We had a good talk. He told me that Saudi Arabia is the future.

“A lot of people don’t understand now but they are changing really fast, it’s moving really fast.

“And that’s even what I personally, that was my feeling when I got there.

“It was my first time going to Saudi and I was literally like, I didn’t really know how to carry myself, how to behave myself.

“But I get there and find out that everything is cool. It was just like normal life. It’s pretty cool, man.”

Ronaldo is expected to be ringside this weekend in support of his pal Ngannou.