The surprise announcement that Anthony Joshua will be fighting Francis Ngannou next has already sent the boxing world into overdrive with predictions now flying in, and one top heavyweight trainer ‘fully expects’ to see it go only one way, reports boxing-social.com.
Joshua faces former UFC star turned-boxing-novice, Ngannou, early March in Saudi Arabia. It is his fourth fight in 12 months after a busy 2023 where he rebuilt well from his two losses to Oleksandr Usyk with wins over Jermain Franklin, Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin.
For Ngannou, 2023 was just as successful – despite losing to WBC champion Tyson Fury, he put his name on the boxing map by pushing him hard and even securing a knockdown in the third round.
That was enough for him to get a ranking with the WBC, and enough to entice Joshua into a fight, with Joshua no doubt hoping to do a better job than Fury in order to get himself back into the conversation at the very top of the division.
Speaking to Boxing Social, Martin Bakole’s trainer, Billy Nelson, said Ngannou has already claimed Joshua has ‘no chin.’
“I fully expect Joshua to knock him out and beat him very comfortably,” he said.
On Ngannou’s fight against Fury, he said: “Fury won against Ngannou, but I think expectations of Ngannou were very low. Fury’s performance was very poor, and he’s admitted it.
“We might get a better idea against AJ. If it goes the distance with AJ, people can’t be so slanderous about Fury’s performance against Ngannou, and then Martin can go and stop him.”
Some in boxing see this fight as a ‘cash grab’, but plenty of others are keen to see how Joshua gets on against the former Fury opponent.
Ngannou is expected to earn more than the $10 million he got from the Fury fight.
