Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou •

Joshua should be taking the fight to him early like he did Wallin but I suspect he'll be wary of Ngannou's power and try and bank rounds from the outside and clinch. Unless Ngannou starts to seriously flag it will be a dull 12 round decision. That would be my bet: Joshua UD.

 

I understand what you're saying, but...There was a time when big, strong, roiders who tried boxing, fatigued, froze when they got hit, and then lost to a better skilled opponent. Now, especially in this instance the big, strong guy probably won't fatigue, or freeze in front of the crowd, and he has been boxing in the gym for a long time and has been competing in a combat sport so he knows what it feels like to get hit. I have no idea who will win the fight, I think Joshua is a good fighter, always is in shape, and has a lot of athletic ability, but his opponent has been in the gym with what I consider to be a good boxer (Takam, and probably others) for a long time. It will be interesting to see how much boxing skill Nagannou has and find out if he was just a problem for Fury or if he is a guy who would be a problem for anybody.

I don't think that boxing is a useless art, but at some point size, speed, strength, and toughness will overcome skill. Nobody has ever boxed against a 6-4, 275 pound man who has stamina, toughness, punching power, and comes from a full contact combat sport except Tyson Fury. Many say that Fury took Ngannou lightly and didn't train. Apparently Joshua is taking the fight seriously, so now we'll find out a lot more.

 

It does and it doesn't... I think, at least to begin with, some part of it comes from the camp that thought Wilder was a serious champion and couldn't accept that he could possibly have lost to anyone who wasn't a straight up ATG level demigod - especially to have been able to beat him when unfit, arguably twice...

The irony being that Wilder pretty much never acted like a champion either, which made it easy to be down on him with even the faintest whiff of realism.

Indeed... And that's where the circlejerk gets going - because Fury only ever fought one ATG, an aged and arguably not mentally right Wlad... So it suits both the Fury and Wilder fans to hype up each others boy.

When in truth, Wilder was okay at best, Whyte was a zombie after Povetkin ruined him and Fury's next best wins after that are the three over Chisora... It falls off a cliff after that - unless you hype Ngannou, but that narrative may well end after the AJ fight just like the Wallin one did.

Precisely - at his best (ie: Wlad) he's a serious, legit contender...
But how much of that was down to PEDs and arguably a lacklustre Wlad? And how much does the lack of rematch hurt that legacy for you?

And to be clear - the lack of depth means these questions should be asked. To assume it's not a fluke, you need evidence.

Has he been back at that level since his return? We don't know, because he hasn't fought the most proven guy in the division, or the guy who beat him twice - and the general standard of the division isn't all that great even if you WERE fighting the top guys.

Completely agree - he's good, but in a weakish era you need to clean it out... And he's arguably only fought one top 5 fighter in his whole career - I have to give tentative credit for beating Wilder whilst unfit, but given how little Wilder's actually proved (and how easily Fury swept him aside when actually fit) it's difficult to really judge how valuable that is.

 

True, but as much as I like bashing Fury for that embarrassing performance I have to give credit to Ngannou. He showed stamina, ability, ring IQ, and power that imo clearly place him as a very good heavyweight. How would he fair against other guys? It’s hard to say but he’s got the power to make anyone think twice.

 

Rubbish. The reason why people like Wilder are still dangerous in the heavyweight division is purely because of power. Hell he still has a 50/50 chance of beating AJ, and AJ knows it which is why he refuses to fight him. Skill becomes less relevant in boxing as you jump up in weight classes for that very reason.

Ngannou also has the benefit of not only being a former MMA champ, but has entered the sport with world class training camps. Striking is a very transferable skill, combine that with Ngannous insane conditioning and strength and you've got a real threat on your hands.

His first fight against Fury demonstrated why he's a credible threat to AJ. AJ isn't going to be able to bully Ngannou around or jab and run using reach advantage.

 

I guess it's like comparing guys who have been participating in any fairly similar sports... Then giving a big disadvantage to the one that's got the experience - maybe a snooker match between a world champion snooker player and a world champion pool player? Just how much credit does the pool player get for coming close if the snooker player has sunk a few pints beforehand?

Ngannou looked awkward, unorthodox and more tricky than most expected...but how much did Fury's poor condition flatter him and how much was Francis being genuinely good? We won't know until we see him in with a few fighters in good condition to be able to benchmark him off.

He's got a good chin and some decent power, that alone has some merit, agreed - but just how far does that take you? I'm not convinced it's straight into being competitive with fit, legit contenders over 12.

 

Chinese riddle for you: when does a real fighting man become a fake pos and when does a fake pos become a real fighting man?

 

If Wilder ever beat Joshua I would consider it an insult to boxing.

That guys pants, man.

 

There's a reason AJ is fighting Ngannou instead of Wilder.

 

Yes, because Wilder got beaten by Parker in his last fight, noob.

 

The bodybuilder is a very distasteful human, however if we look at probabilities, aj will probably just decision him. I would absolutely love Ngannou to shut his brain off for just a moment though. It's all we can hope for

 

Noob? What are you, 5?

AJ has no problem fighting a novice coming off a loss, but does if it's a former world champ. Funny that.

 

I think we should bring back "noob" as a common internet insult.

 

Because Wilder lost all 12 rounds to Parker.

Turkey man himself saying the fight was signed but then Wilder lost.

https://www.fightsports.tv/turki-alalshikh-still-wants-joshua-vs-wilder/

 

I think Francis is pretty much down to a puncher's chance, but with his power those aren't terrible odds.

If neither guy gets hurt or dropped it's Joshua by decision imo. Can he stop Ngannou, though? Hard to say. Ngannou has an iron cast jaw, but his stamina isn't all that, so AJ has to put him under pressure to get him out of there. Must be a bit of a bull fighter finish. First tire him out, then move in for the kill.