Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou •

I think we can all see why the fight was made.

Zhang would have been my preferred option, or Hrgovic.

That said, if you fight every 3 months I give a bit of latitude

 

Zhang definitely should have been first considering his age & how he could help out Boxing in the gigantic Chinese market

 

Not shame to lost to Usyk. You will learn that lesson in February.

 

Title fights in UFC are 5 rounds of 5 minutes.

 

He put decided taking the cash on offer was his best option at this stage of his 'career'

 

In sporting terms, that mean things in the sport, there is better fights out there for AJ, Hrgovic for example

But if AJ goes in there and beats Ngannou handily, which I have a feeling he will, then Fury-AJ is a very interesting fight again which will likely have a decent build up with lots of talk of AJ doing what Fury couldn't

 

You are ignored(for obvious reason obviously ), but i saw your comment on my second phone, where i'm not log on.

My source is me logically thinking, and using my brain, without being a fanboy diva.
This was already explained million times already, but for you i will do it one last time:

If the Undisputed happen at February 17th., which is essentially a month from now, at the very worst case scenario at 19-20 February, IBF will give the Champion(Fury or Usyk) a 30 day for negotiation with the mandatory > Hrgovic. And if that doesn't happen they will simply order a purse bid.
You can do the math.

The Saudi planned event is for March. So tell me how the heck was AJ vs Hrgovic supposed to happen for the IBF title?

Also either Fury/Usyk may very well not want the rematch or retire, and the champion could defend the belt or stagnate for quite awhile if they want.

And i doubt that AJ/Hrgovic will want to fight each other, if the title, which they are literally mandatory for are not on the line. Quite simple really.

There is so many variables, that is impossible to guess what will happen exactly, but the chances the IBF title would have been on the line for the March date is almost ZERO.

Also you need a lot of time to make that fight, aka AJ - Hrgovic, and they will want to have a proper camp. So even if IBF decide to strip Usyk on February 19th., aka Monday, you can't make that fight in 10 days for March 9th.

Again just like Hearn already explained Hrgovic is going to be the summer fight.

 

Oh really? Show what I know.
IDKSUFC

I stand by the rest of what I wrote though. For Joshua this will be like Sugar Hill said to Fury between rounds "as hard as you want to make it"

 

Some prominent pre-Klitschko era boxers who started boxing in their 20's:

Mercer, Rahman, Puritty, T. Witherspoon, Norton, Liston, Lyle, Shavers, Marciano, Qawi

Vitali, Povetkin, Briedis, Huck and Whyte were converted kickboxers. A kickboxer transitioned to MMA with limited experience, KO'd the UFC's P4P No.2 in 2023, beat three other champions and became a two weight UFC champ in 8 MMA fights over 36 months.

So this kind of thing is not unheard of in combat sports.

 

Why am I ignored? I don't think we've ever interacted before lol.

So there's no source saying Hrgovic was unable to fight on this February card, thanks, that's exactly what I've been saying as well.

Fighting Hrgovic is better than fighting NGannou.

I'll watch the fight, but I'm very disappointed.

 

Maybe i have wrongly ignored you i have no idea. I usually ignore people i gain nothing in discussion, aka like chatting with the wall.
I unignored you, cause i don't remember the reason for it.

As far as the Hrgovic goes, Hearn is your source, and he said exactly what i explained.

There is too many variables, and IBF won't be ready in March with their decision to either strip Usyk/Fury or not.
So basically you can't make the fight.

Also it's not AJ or Hearn who is pulling the cards, it's the Saudi, so they decided that fight.

 

The Saudis are running the whole show and their contribution is definitely not positive.

But I would have preferred they make AJ v Hrgovic next.

This is quite a unique situation though so boxing should go with Saudis as the amount of fights they've now brought you the table is very exciting.

 

Or maybe it just means that Francis isn't the bum that everyone thought he was? Maybe Francis is actually pretty decent...

Let's give the man his credit if he beats AJ.

 

I made this thread for all the crybabies, that for some reason can't use their brain.

Hrgovic fight can't happen for the IBF title, as there is no time for the March date. They need to first strip Usyk, and then order a fight for the vacant title. IBF has not even come with an updated ranking.

Second thing and the most important one is, Ngannou already proven himself by beating Fury, and make no mistake about it, everyone knows this.

He beats him fair and square, but he was robbed, both by the referee and the 2 judges.
100% illegal intentional elbow > 1 point deduction
100% not given KD in the 7th round > another point deduction for Fury.
Hell 1 Boxing referee scoring the fight for Ngannou is enough evidence he won, even without the 2 points that should have 100% be deducted.

Third and also very important factor, AJ IS NOT A CHAMPION and doesn't held the HW division hostage.

Fury was the WBC Champion + his last bout was Dec. 2022 against Chisora and he was inactive for almost a year, just to fight Ngannou, who made his Boxing debut, and that wasn't even a title fight. Fury held the whole division hostage, and ducked multiple fights + the Undisputed.

Huge differences between the two cases:

Forthly, AJ is the most active HW Boxer, alongside Parker, so there is nothing wrong with taking this fight, as stay active, as he is waiting to see what happen with the Undisputed and IBF situation.
This is 4 fights in just 1 year for AJ.

April 1st, 2023: Jermaine Franklin
Aug 12th, 2023: Robert Helenius
Dec 23rd, 2023: Otto Wallin
March 8th, 2024: Francis Ngannou

And lastly, AJ needs to restore the Boxing Reputation, as Ngannou shatter it to pieces by destroying Tyson Fury. Fury literally goes on hiding after the Ngannou fight, cancel the presser as well.
Let's not forget this:

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I don't know much about the guy that "run" Saudi Boxing now, and if all of this "shows" are just for the Riyadh Season or they plan to constantly be a factor in boxing. If it's the latter then they prolly have plans for AJ - Hrgovic for the summer. Hrgovic was never planned for the March.

The plans for Wilder - AJ, as this fight was signed from AJ side, and the only thing that needed to happen is both of the fighters to won their fight, and Wilder failed miserably.
So Ngannou fight is the replacement money fight that AJ was always going to have in March.

AJ have said he will fight 3x time this year, so at the very least he will fight one more time in 2024. He is highly active, as he would have his 4th fight in a year against Ngannou.

Again his plans are March, summer fight and prolly November/December fight.