Floyd Masson
Te Awamutu-born IBO World Cruiserweight Champion Floyd Masson will make his first defence at Eatons Hill, Queensland, Australia against Belgium boxer Yves Ngabu on September 9.
Floyd Masson won his world title in April this year against Italian Fabio Turchi. Masson will make another step up in opponent quality when he faces former European Champion and top 11-ranked boxer Yves Ngabu. Masson has continually increased his skill and difficulty levels in opponents, defeating multiple great boxers like Former World title contender Mark Flanagan in 2021, Turchi in 2023 and now Ngabu.
After his win against Turchi, Masson has increased his rankings, rising to 17th on Boxrec, 18th in the WBC and 7th in the IBF, putting him closer to the other world titles for unification. One of the fights that would be very interesting to see is against IBF World Cruiserweight champion, Australian Jai Opetaia. Opetaia however has two fights booked currently first against England’s Jordan Thompson and later a rematch against Mairis Briedis.
Masson opponent Yves Ngabu is currently ranked 11th on Boxrec and 15th in the WBC. Ngabu is coming off a split-decision loss against Russian Evgeny Tishchenko and a No Contest result against French Brandon Deslaurier. His only other loss was against former WBO World Cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie who is known for ending the career of David Light. Apart from the two losses and a no contest, Yves Ngabu has had a major uphill climb throughout his career, defeating multiple significant opponents.
Masson has fought some good-quality opponents, but this will be the next big test, as he begins to fight more international opponents. Masson has been training in USA for his big world title defence, in the same camp that he fought in for the Turchi fight.
Also fighting on the undercard will be New Zealand-born boxer Benjamin Kelleher as he defends his Australian national cruiserweight title against Luke Modini. Kelleher has had two losses in a row against another New Zealander Peter Sa’lesui in 2022. Since his loss, Kelleher has been committed to restarting his career. So far he has been successful when he won the title this year against Khalid Baker. He will be taking on Luke Modini who defeated New Zealand Born Ricky Esilva last December.
Masson’s World title defence against Belgium Yves Ngabu will happen on September 9 in Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill, Queensland, Australia. The event is close to being sold out.
