Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou •

True. AJ would probably get in regardless for his "commercial services to the sport".

 

Boxers are tailor-made for durable wrestlers. After a boxer is on the floor he's virtually disarmed (a mega freak punch aside).

 

Exactly. The bar isn't that high. It's based on contribution to the sport of boxing rather than overall ability/greatness. He unified 3 belts and attracted viewership so that will probably be deemed enough, regardless of what happens from now onwards.

 

And that same Helenius once got gifted a hometown decision in the ammys against MMA fighter Kharitanov back in the day too, theres video of it.

Ngannou is easily one of AJs toughest opponents, after Usyk its the toughest guy hes faced this decade. People get hung up on the "MMA fighter" "boxer" labels. Like Otto ****ing Wallin or old Pulev or little fat Ruiz are more dangerous in a fist fight than Ngannou lol.

 

Little fat Ruiz might well be, mainly because he was so easy to underestimate. And if things start going wrong in a fight with him, it's easy to chit your pants because you sense the unequalled potential for humiliation. Ruiz has unusually fast hands, he's a natural fighter with rapid recovery and he's excellent at finding the temple in an exchange, which is why few of his better opponents exchanged with him. Joshua 1 and Ortiz did and they got put down early and lost.

I agree that people get too hung up on labels. Many successful boxers started in their 20's (Marciano, Liston, Norton) and some have come from kickboxing (Vitali, Povetkin, Briedis). No reason in theory why Ngannou can't have major success, he's clearly got dangerous attributes.

 

Once again we've got an elite heavy who's got one eye on his next fight and is overlooking Ngannu AND he's likely being bigged-up by his own promotor into believing that the Ngannu fight represents a soft touch.

This forum is doing the same because in one camp we've got Fury fans who would rather argue that Fury sleep-walked into the fight or that he's in terminal decline than acknowledge that he isn't invincible and on the other side we've got Usyk and AJ fans who would like to believe Fury was exposed as a fraud and never any good to begin with.

Has no one learned?

Yes Fury had an off-night - he looked fat, disinterested in the buildup, probably had a half-arsed camp etc.

But, he was also coming off the back of wins vs Chisora, Whyte, and Wilder. The former two he completely dominated.

AJ is coming off the back of wins vs Wallin, Helenius, and Franklin.

Should this give us sufficient confidence to believe that AJ will steamroll Ngannu where Fury had a really hard night?

I suspect not.

Ngannu also believes he is coming off the back of a win v Fury which will give him tremendous belief. He proved himself in the Fury and showed what his key strengths are: chin, power, unclinchable, these can't be taken away from him simply because he "isn't a boxer".

AJ should be the favourite, I think he will probably beat Ngannu, but I also think it could be a difficult night where Ngannu has every chance of coming out on top. AJ's best bet is to box the way he boxed against Ruiz in the rematch (run away). If he goes in and looks to exchange with Ngannu he's taking a big risk. Conversely Francis should look to pressure and engage with AJ as early and as often as his gas tank will allow.

Granted AJ could KO Francis in an exchange, I don't believe he could stand up to a Joshua barrage, but I hold more faith in Ngannu taking a clean shot from AJ than I do the reverse.

On the whole this is a very difficult fight to predict which no one should take for granted, particularly not AJ, and I am looking forward to it.

 

It was no fluke when Nagganou fought Fury to what was arguably a draw. What is crazy is he had only been training boxing for a few months. So how much better is Naganou going to be vs Aj. Aj can look at the video on Nagnou and try to break down his style but Nagnou should be considerably better for this next fight, which is crazy.

He is a freak imo. Nobody should be able to come In And compete with Fury like that after 3 months training. Does not matter if Fury was not in good condition because Naganou has a lot to learn still, he should be able to get a lot better than he was in that night, a lot better.

I predict him to beat Joshua by Ko. Don’t think Joshua will be able to handle the power.

 

Francis is no joke

He is bigger than AJ we're talking 30 natural pounds of muscle bigger. has a better chin, much stronger, better mentality, bigger heart, bigger balls, clinches like a demon probably hits harder and can be awkward.

AJ has to shut him down with his strong jab that is the key and only key to this fight. It's really that simple.

Francis needs to pull a Usyk and come up and under with his own stiff jab and give AJ the shock of a lifetime.

Francis is way more naturally physically gifted than bodybuilder AJ.

Having tape on Francis is a big bonus

AJ is going to land his best off Francis's jaw and he won't blink and AJ will wet the bed. When these bums that rely on their power run into a real man a proper specimen like Francis they fold.

The world of boxing should be on notice.

 

Ngannou will come in hungry and motivated .

He now knows he can can go 10 rounds , he now knows he is not without a chance against a boxer .

He knows how much power he can deliver and he knows he has an armored chin .

Should mike tyson again stand on his side it will further boost him .

Will mike tyson be in his camp again , does anybody know ?

 

Francis is a limited fighter with slow feet and slow hands... ah, he will practice target shooting until he is knocked out... they are going to brutalize him

 

AJ has slow feet. He's a total pudding.

 

He has trained boxing for 10 years. Not strictly boxing but his main weapon in MMA was always his hands.

I know its not comparable to training only boxing but he isnt some novice who first put boxing gloves on couple months ago.

 

yeah he has done a lot of training that has some cross over to boxing. But Boxing has a lot of differences than mma that he needs to learn and he will get a lot better at boxing as time goes on, 3 months training is next nothing to pick up a new sport.

 

I am firmly of the opinion - and I'm happy to stand by it - that Ngannou was flattered by the Fury fight. I don't rate Fury as highly as some ... But I do think he was undertrained and unmotivated, expecting an easy nights work. While Francis was better than expected.
I believe that AJ will take the fight seriously. And that he will make it look fairly easy when he wins. And that's no disrespect to Francis, who I do like.

 

Its an extremely risky fight for AJ. Hes a pretty basic workmanlike fighter who gets by through being a big guy with good athleticism and power and who always turns up in shape. His chin isnt great, hes not all that quick or fluid or mobile. In terms of raw strength, power, size, chin and athleticism I think Ngannou has the advantage, and the actual skill gap is smaller than it was between Fury and Ngannou. Will not be surprised at all if AJ gets completely laid out within the first few rounds tbh.