Did Francis Ngannou shoot himself in the foot? Discussions have been raging across the boxing world. Reportedly, Ngannou declined Jake Paul’s offer for a fight after the fight with Gervonta Davis fell apart. Leaping at the opportunity, his former opponent, Anthony Joshua, will now face Paul at Kaseya Center on December 19 for an 8-round duel. The lead-up to the announcement, which followed the cancellation of an earlier scheduled exhibition against Gervonta Davis, saw a whole rigmarole of names and callouts. Among the prominent names that did the rounds was that of the former UFC heavyweight champion.

Now PFL’s heavyweight title holder, Francis Ngannou, found a lucrative hustle in boxing after his departure from UFC. The move yielded mixed results. Following an impressive outing against then-champion Tyson Fury, his second fight against Anthony Joshua turned into a rout. Regardless, weeks ago, before Jake Paul came up with an offer, reports suggested Ngannou was in early talks with Deontay Wilder. Nevertheless, his refusal didn’t sit well with Paul. Looking for an opportunity to return fire, he lashed out at Ngannou for messing up the situation and also offending Mike Tyson‘s legacy.

Jake Paul takes a dig at Francis Ngannou

Jake Paul was in no mood to mince words. At the kick-off press conference, a reporter asked, “Did your opinion on Ngannou change for not taking the fight and seeing AJ taking the fight?” To which the Cleveland native replied, “He’s just an idiot.” He recalled how Ngannou felt disrespected when he tabled the fight offer.

So Jake Paul highlighted – the former UFC champion has gotten a bad rap of late. Had he accepted the fight, Ngannou could have set the record straight. But no, he felt disrespectful. “If you feel so disrespected, you’re having all this bad publicity about your name over the past year, year and a half,” Paul said, adding, “This is an opportunity to correct that and stop me.”

According to Paul, by pulling in Mike Tyson’s name, Francis Ngannou offended the boxing great’s legacy. “He’s basically also talking sh*t to Mike Tyson for fighting me,” Jake Paul stated. The former Disney star believes Ngannou would never be able to touch the heights Tyson reached, however hard he tries.

To that extent, even Joshua didn’t spare Francis Ngannou.

Francis Ngannou: Self-respect over financial gain

“With Ngannou, he should be up here if he was serious. He wants to fight rather than talk; be about it. Don’t talk about it. If you’ve got something to say and you need to prove yourself in boxing, the best way to do it is to let your hands go,” the former world champion who inflicted Ngannou’s first boxing loss stated.

To be fair, Francis Ngannou has been fairly consistent about the matchup against Jake Paul.

A few days after the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight, Ngannou was speaking with TMZ Sports. Sharing his thoughts on the Netflix blockbuster that unfolded at the Cowboys Stadium, Ngannou dismissed a potential matchup against Paul. Chiding the reporter to have some respect for him, the Cameroonian-French fighter had said, “Come on, don’t be silly…maybe if we put, maybe we put the two, the two poor brothers in the arena, in the cage, look at the cage, and then yeah, maybe there’s something to do there. Come on, like, respect me a little bit.”

Perhaps Francis Ngannou wants to forge a solid boxing legacy where his resume features a string of big names. A fight against Deontay Wilder appeals more in that regard than a matchup against a YouTuber-turned-boxer.

What’s your take? Do you think Francis Ngannou’s decision to decline Jake Paul’s offer was wise?