Francis Ngannou is gearing up for his second professional boxing fight against Anthony Joshua and has already called out the differences between the Londoner and Tyson Fury.
Francis Ngannou thinks Tyson Fury can handle a punch better than Anthony Joshua.
Ngannou, the ex-UFC champion, impressed fight fans with his professional boxing debut against Fury in October, putting the heavyweight champion on the canvas in the third round. Now, he’s getting ready for his second professional fight against Joshua on March 8.
Despite flooring Fury in his previous fight, Ngannou still lost by just one point. It was a confusing call that some people didn’t agree with. Ngannou now hopes that if he beats Joshua, he might get to duke it out with Fury once more after the Gypsy King’s heavyweight unification clash with Oleksandr Usyk is settled in May.
Francis Ngannou thinks Tyson Fury can handle a punch better than Anthony Joshua.
Ngannou, the ex-UFC champion, impressed fight fans with his professional boxing debut against Fury in October, putting the heavyweight champion on the canvas in the third round. Now, he’s getting ready for his second professional fight against Joshua on March 8.
Despite flooring Fury in his previous fight, Ngannou still lost by just one point. It was a confusing call that some people didn’t agree with. Ngannou now hopes that if he beats Joshua, he might get to duke it out with Fury once more after the Gypsy King’s heavyweight unification clash with Oleksandr Usyk is settled in May.
When Ngannou was asked if he thought Joshua could take a hit like the one Fury did, Ngannou told DAZN: “I have a doubt about that, Tyson has showed that he is very resilient. I saw him come back from a knockdown that you wouldn’t believe somebody would come back from. I think he is probably one of the most resistant people out there.”
Ngannou’s comments were made during a face-off with Joshua himself, who teasingly responded by saying: “Who hasn’t knocked Tyson down? So many people have knocked Tyson down.”
Fury has been knocked down seven times in his professional career but has always got back up to win, with the exception of a controversial draw against Deontay Wilder in 2018. Joshua was meant to fight Wilder instead of Ngannou, but that changed when Wilder lost to Joseph Parker just before Christmas.
Now, ‘AJ’ has changed his mind about a fight with Ngannou being just a “gimmick”, something which amused Ngannou. The former UFC fighter said: “It’s still a gimmick fight, the fight is a gimmick. I think it’s very funny because I think of a gimmick fight like… this is a crossover. It’s my second pro fight. In my first two boxing matches I am taking on two of the top three heavyweight boxers of this generation, so quite interesting right? It’s a good challenge and it’s very interesting
