Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou •

That's the way I'm seeing it (if Joshua can show some heart, that is)..

 

At the weigh in AJ appeared more steely tight while Francis, without seeming complacent, was that much more relaxed.

Nothing to read into really, that’s just they’re own way for each man in terms of the frame of mind and mental focus that best suits them.

Anecdotally, less experienced and/or less favoured fighters tend to be struck off more completely on paper than what actually happens in real fights.

There’s actually a lot of pressure on the dedicated and more experienced boxing guy - more to lose than his counterpart even if the boxer does it tough without actually losing.

Francis is acting like he’s in a no lose situation with ONLY the potential to win big - even if he himself lost a decision while posting a competitive performance.

Like AJ, Ngannou has done the work in the gym - where fights are actually won or lost in terms of all important preparation and strategising, as they say.

With that, knowing he has properly prepared and will do his best, Francis has a semi “come what may attitude” -

Does Francis usually talk this much?

Lol, he is very well expressed and makes fundamental sense in all he says.

His confidence in combination with him being realistic, couldn’t be any better.

Joshua is huge but at the short end of a 20 lb weight pull. That is crazy.

At this moment. I like them both.

May the best man win but I think AJ will be naturally leery during the opening rounds - and Francis may jump early to advantage himself of that hesitancy.

If the rounds roll by, Francis’ stamina will be severely tested - he was pretty exhausted in the second half of the Fury fight and an equally tired Fury wasn’t putting as much to Francis as AJ is capable of doing over the longer haul.

If Francis gets some big ones in early, he might just end proceedings before or by the mid way mark OR, at the very least, cause AJ to seriously clam up, making it that much easier for Ngannou to box his way through 10 rounds.

I’d expect to see AJ try to play it safe for the first 2-3 rounds but then he has to truly switch on and land some serious leather to get Francis’ respect if not also put some serious hurt on Ngannou altogether.

Refreshing to see two supremely fit SHWs engaging.

Last time two serious bangers looked as muscled and ripped as that was when Liston fought Cleveland Williams - though they were some 50 odd lbs south of the top weight for this fight.

272.6 lbs for 6’4” Ngannou - insane!

Rather than question and criticise anyone who might support Francis - let BOXING defend itself - it’s a great sport and I love it - the fight will unpack itself as it should and if the sport (at least the HW division) needs a shake up - then it is what it is -

Of course the big lure is the cross over novelty and associated $$$ - but however it has come to pass - outcomes notwithstanding, Francis’ propensity to fight - in terms of frequency and quality opponent selection, in its own right, has put a number of HWs to shame - most notably, the Fightin’ Man himself.

Do we really want that type of (non) fighting conduct to remain in place? Not me, and I imagine most other fans don’t either.

 

they're cross training. no one in the mma side thinks boxers cant win mma fights.

a pure boxer will lose 9 of 10 times against an mma fighter who likes to grapple. And not all mma is credible, regional mma with low level bums should not even count.

 

Still can't believe how many people are ignoring what Francis did to Fury. Can't wait to see Francis make history. Baddest man ever on the planet. Undisputed HW champion & UFC champion

 

but that might the reason he quits a lot. his body language in the andy fight was a man wanting to bolt and walk home.

 

Ngannou makes other mistakes like pulling straight back. AJ should have a field day, even if he fights tentatively. Fury had openings and landed but his problem was he has no power and he was out of shape. And Fury still won the fight. Unless Ngannou lands some punch that knocks AJ cold, he's going to lose. I see no clear path for Ngannou to win a decision.

I honestly don't think AJ will need to show heart, all he needs to do is fight smart, even if it doesn't make for an entertaining fight.

 

Hearing a lot of 'Joshua should....'

But there is also plenty of doubt being expressed as to whether he will.

Could be an interesting fight.

 

Using vuvuzelas should be punishable by death. Ruined the weigh in. Still remember that awful noise from the 2010 World Cup. How can a person not realize how ****ed up it is to use those things.

 

Yes Szpilka got a come from behind KO over a 47 year old borderline novelty act who transitioned to MMA from strongman in his 30s.

The flimsiness of all of your examples says a lot lol.

 

Aj is not that agressive. If he was Robert Helenius would have been put to sleep in round 1.

Aj will throw the jab all night just to setup that right hand, and Helenius caught him several times when Aj kept over feinting.

 

What you're describing is punchers chance. Hence "KO'd in 9 seconds" "KO'd in 53 seconds" rather than "went the distance and won the decision"

What also illustrates this is how Mercers other MMA fight was him getting stopped in the first round by Kimo, he also went 0-2 in kickboxing.

 

Steve Cunningham did it too. A 210 lb former cruiserweight.
I can't believe a fat man out-jabbed muscle bound supposed "hardest hitter on the planet"

 

Do you want a list of some boxers who were professional boxers who successfully crossed over to MMA and had wins? Because we can provide that too. It's been done.

 

You guys keep moving the goal post. A pure boxer meaning someone who only trains in boxing would be foolish to go into an MMA fight because MMA favors grapplers and wrestlers and submission artists. It always has. So of course a grappler wrestler and submission artist will tie up the boxer's hands right away and avoid any striking and will win the match in that fashion. Although there have been some startling examples of boxers with only boxing winning MMA matches. The more important thing is that we have seen from history that boxing is a completely useful and legitimate martial art and boxers have a martial mindset no different than a BJJ blackbelt. And the proof of that is the top MMA contenders and champions who have had boxing as a main discipline and art and their original art. History is full of these examples.

 

I don't know who is seriously saying boxing is all you need. But when we bring up the example of Holly Holm people in the MMA community discredit it by saying "well she cross-trained in other arts" as if to say you have to use only one discipline for it to be considered effective. News flash, punching somebody in the brain works. It works in sports it works in street fights. Always has and always will.

Holm was a female boxing champion before she knocked out Rhonda, One of the most popular champions in the last 15 years. Boxers have a martial mindset. They have The toughness and ability to take punishment. They can gauge distance. They have focus They have balance etc boxers are legitimate martial artists.

If you want examples of people who only trained boxing who were successful in MMA we have a number of examples. If you want examples of people who use boxing as their main discipline and then cross-trained another arts but were essentially boxers, we have dozens of examples for that too.

The arrogance is coming from the MMA community saying things like such and such would defeat every heavyweight boxer in history easily. Which is complete nonsense.

We're hearing these crazy arguments about Francis. It's hype and it's propaganda. And then of course we hear it about Jon Jones another guy who's probably 6 months to a year away from getting knocked out and tarnishing his legacy. It happens to everybody. I had to hear it about Anderson Silva about how he was the closest thing to Bruce Lee or Muhammad Ali or maybe both of them combined, then he got knocked out. We heard it about Chuck Liddell, we heard it about Brock Lesnar, we heard it about Connor and we heard it about Rhonda. Guess what they all get knocked out and that's it. They are not superheroes they are people and they can get hurt like anybody else.