Former two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) annihilated MMA superstar and WBC #10 rated Francis Ngannou (0-2) in two rounds on Friday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Joshua dropped Ngannou in the first round with a right hand, then used the same punch to floor Ngannou twice in round two to end the fight. Time was 2:38. Ngannou was out cold.
Ngannou previously gave WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury all he could handle, but Joshua comprehensively destroyed him.
Did anyone really see this outcome?
Yes, I actually called it in prior posts.
I thought it would go 4 rds.
I did not see a knockout, but I did feel that Joshua would take this match more seriously than did Fury, and that was the difference. I thought that Joshua would win rather comfortably. Up to the first knockdown it looked like Ngannou would win that round. After the first knockdown of the second round, Ngannou looked as if he wondered, what did I get myself into.
Not at all I thought Francis was going to give him a good fight cuz AJ’s been slow and performance really bad but he’s back man got to give it to him all the bad talking finally made the dog come out of him
derrick jedlicka ,
yes. thought it would be this easy. but i did also think ngannou had a little better chin. confirms where fury was for his fight with ngannou. the real qustion is, is fury shot?
Rwb, Fury had a bad habit of fighting down to his opponents level. Remember him struggling against Otto Wallin?
AJ on the other hand clearly took Ngannou serious after he was able to put Fury down. Great performance for him, but the reality is even he knows he beat a guy who really doesn’t belong in this Sport. I think AJ is probably the 3rd best Heavyweight in the world, but would definitely tune into a match with Fury (assuming Tyson gets the job done against Usyk).
I think that the 3 fights series with Doentay has seriously taken a toll on Fury & Wilder, I would say both boxers look shot
Fighting back gamely against Joe Parker throughout 12 rounds, Deontay tried to fight his own fight throwing many big bombs at the rugged Parker who was battering him all the way to victory.
Give Joe credit!
Fury never would it beat aj , that’s the deal , Fury never had a shot , he’s a true dosser
In light of recent outcomes in the sport, you can never be sure. At face value this fight went exactly how I would have expected it to have gone. A hard punching, former Olympic Gold medalist, two time world champion, still in the prime of his career should definitely have no problem making easy work out of an MMA fighter fighting in his second professional boxing match. No question Ngannou is a phenomenal dude, but it remains a mystery how he did so well against Fury.
Fury obviously didn’t train for the fight…at all…and it nearly cost him.
If Fury didn’t train, first of all, whose problem that is? Secondly that only shows what a liar Fury is and always was. Before the match the “fake gypsy” said, “i took Nganou serious, that is why I trained 10 weeks instead of the usual 8.
At some point but not so early !
Only MMA fans believed or even thought this fight would go any different. Huge difference between fighting an angry top 5 HW with huge power trying to get his spot on top back and a supreme boxer with little power who doesn’t take anyone serious unless he has to and really isn’t that interested in boxing
It’s supposed to be easy because of the skill disparity, especially when matched against a non classical boxer and because of AJ’s recent gun-shyness, but damn that was nasty. I did not expect a sudden finish that early. I thought late round stoppage by Joshua (8 forward) after giving the people their monies worth.
After you see this fight, it probably shouldnt have happened. It would be like Jake Paul fighting Canelo in Paul’s second fight.
Agree jj… believe this outcome will cause hesitation next time…there is a direct powerful statement….that was amplified by this knock out” you don’t play boxing”….
The worst thing for Ngannou was Fury showing up out of shape and unprepared. He made Ngannou look good, but Joshua took the fight deadly serious and showed how different it is when the guy cares about his craft. That said, I’m sure Ngannou made a mountain of money and that’ll be comforting as he works his way through a massive headache.
Very good analysis of the fight.
100 percent right. Though Fury said before the fight he was going to go mano on mano with Francis. when he found that did not work, he went into his boxing, though he look terribly out of shape.
That’s an excuse. Fury should have been prepared and took Ngannou out fast. Why risk injury for his upcoming Usyk fight. He’s supposed to be a pro. If he’s doesn’t know taking an opponent lightly is a mistake thats on him.
If Jac ass Paul fights any real contender he’ll get destroyed
Thank God!
Done with this nna
Too Easy.
Well now, guess this fight clears up much media hype and inflated predictions. Let’s see if the same crowd think Jake Paul will win against Tyson. Of course, I am sure Paul and Tyson will be labeled a “fight”, but behind the lines it will be an exhibition/slap fest.
Tyson is 0 and 6 in fights with quality opponents. Paul is another quality opponent. Tyson will be knocked out cold.
I think he meant Mike Tyson
To easy. Fury didn’t take Ngannu seriously
One thing about Fury, despite tons of talent, he doesn’t take his fitness seriously at all. Joshua does. He wasn’t going to half-ass his way through this fight, and he made a statement. At least, he made as big of a statement as you could against a guy who was many levels below him.
Brutal KO. AJ is rejuvenated.
Don’t forget AJ fought a amateur!
As Fury did, he is a belt holder, whose fans say he is one of the best ever, he should not need to train too hard to beat a man having his first boxing match. Leading up to the match, Fury said he trained 10 weeks instead of his usual 8, yet he was given a gift by the judges.
Pinnnnnga! I thought ngannu was going to do better than this! Anyways, saudi arabian prince, kings and the exellency are big spenders, maybe they offer canelo the $100 million he wants to fight benavidez otherwise forget about it!
Gotta respect Aj, loses to Ruiz, twice to Usyk, and been very active. Clearly he loved the sport and if Tyson Fury beats Usyk twice then AJ vs Fury will be massive…
If Fury somehow beats Usyk he’ll retire.
He won’t don’t worry about it, but Usyk will probably make Fury look like such a slow and clumsy fool that he’ll retire anyway. Ngannou beat Fury and Joshua beat Ng. and Usyk beat Joshua..
This AJ , I think is not the same version in against Uysk 1&2
Maybe not, but Usyk is a deadly counterpuncher, and swinging against air and then getting hit in the face, stomach and chest for your trouble tends to take the wind out of a person’s sails.
Taking nothing away from Uysk . He proved himself twice .
AJ version one was too nice and playing the pr game and did it too much also was novice champ learning on the job , in broad view of everyone’s gaze .
Too my understanding also every hw who loses a fight goes through an enormous crisis of confidence and depression.
Most can rebuild in relative obscurity . AJ who should have gone away for a while was straight back in after Ruiz .. I bet management and presssure made him so that . Image if Lewis jumped straight back into title fights after the Oliver mc call loss???
And lewis is an all time great in anyone’s none biased top 5 heavies .
In shorter words Uysk fought the lacking confidence AJ.
I would love too see ist AJ v Fury. But Fury said he as to fight Uysk twice as the contract says .And at some point Uysk v AJ (3) and see if he can repeat previous victories if they fought in fairy tell world next .. i would put it that’s it’s totally diff fight.. and no guarantee that Uysk wins .
“Ngannou beat Fury and Joshua beat Ng. and Usyk beat Joshua..”
Fury is three levels below Usyk.
Still think this fight won’t happen-Fury wants no part of him.
Fury gave Ngannou no respect in training, and too much respect in the ring. Joshua did the opposite. Perfect game plan.
Joshua is also a more disciplined and much harder puncher than Fury.
“More disciplined” – definitely
“Harder puncher” – far more debatable
At the end of the day, you’re talking about monster-sized dudes who can turn your brain off with a single punch. Zhang might hit harder than either, and he didn’t look too good.
Spot on
joshua with the boing 101 education just that simple
Fury is never going to fight AJ now.
Maybe, but right now, he meeds to fight the guy that beat AJ twice. If the same Fury that showed up against Ngannou shows up in May, he gets wiped out. Usyk will solve the Fury riddle easily if Fury is still out of shape and unprepared. I expect we see a much better version of Fury, though.
Fury already looks about 15lbs lighter than when he Francis. He actually looks smaller than when fought Wilder. I think the Ngannou fight was a wake up call.
AJ seems more sure of himself in comparison to other recent fights.
Too easy, it seems a bit unreal
What’s unreal is that they set up this farce. It’s Michael Jordan vs Michael Phelps, two different sports , or look at it like what 0-1 boxer wouldn’t get kod early by aj, but if you believe it’s competitive watch it all you want, but it’s a farce
I know style makes fights, preparation matters, etc., but this really makes Fury look bad in comparison.
Basic boxing destroyed Ngannou
Wow this card was soooooooo disappointing none of the fights really delivered what we were hoping.
Fury built his aura by beating possibly one of the worse technical boxers to win a title ever, Wilder. The Fury nut huggers have to give it a rest. I admit I thought AJ would get stopped by Ngannou because of his chin problems. Thank goodness, AJ did not embarrass boxing.
Fury beat Wladimir when he was on a dominant run. Joshua did it a year later and still calls it his biggest win. That said, Fury spent two years of his prime stuck with Wilder— and Wilder’s stock is pretty low right now. If Fury beats Usyk, knowing Usyk has already beat Joshua twice, that’ll go a long ways toward cementing his status.
Correction: He did not embarass boxing this time. But after being knocked out by a guy who thinks you should have two large pepperoni pizzas after a workout is a huge embarrassment. He lost to Andy “Stay Puft-Marshmallow man” Ruiz.
Lewis lost to McCall and made him cry in the rematch, It’s boxing. On any given night I can ko Jake Paul but y’all scoff , ever heard of buster Douglass?
It was astounding how novice Ngannou looked… he stood with his hands so far apart you could have driven a semi truck down the middle. WIDE open for that right hand, all night. It’s astounding how hard Fury sh!t the bed (though I thought Fury clearly won by winning more rounds even if they were lackluster). Styles make fights and AJ has a great one-two and right hand… also has more one punch power than Fury… but still I thought Ngannou looked incredibly lost and novice in this one. That “guard” (if you can even call it that) was insanely suspect. He was so wide open for those punches straight down the pipe.
You are? He’s not a boxer. It’s pretty obvious he doesn’t know how to box. Joshua hit him with a basic 1-2.
Remember who trained Francis? Mike Tyson
Wow!!!
And boom…there goes the dynamite!
Credit to Joshua, he didnt fk around got this cat out of there in 2! just like i predicted.
Brainchild, Fury will never have the body of Adonis, no matter how much he trains. This fight proves nothing for Joshua. A fight with Fury has lost its luster with Joshua being KO’ed by fat Andy Ruiz and out boxed twice by Usyk.
Straight up… if Fury beats Usyk, fighting Joshua is the biggest fight that the sport could have. It would be a monster event. Both guys would make absurd money and they could sell out just about any venue they wanted. It’s a once-in-a-decade kind of fight. There would be plenty of luster.
The biggest fight boxing could have had would have been a megafight between Zhang and Usyk or Fury in Beijing, but that’s out now, but maybe it will be possible again if Zhang KO’s Parker in their rematch, which i think he will.
The fact is they should’ve fought along time ago before Joshua lost but they’re both chicken , they don’t want to fight , none of them , too many unnecessary fights, does Fury really have to beat usyk twice? No but they’ll rematch no matter the outcome because they make more money. They should fight fans to show that they’re not really so tough just spoiled dossiers that most of y’all believe are supermen
My dear friends, there is levels to this and one good or bad performance does not make a career. I, on this blog begged Francis not to take this fight. But his ego got inflated with the Fury performance. There is no unitary method or proportionality in boxing. Styles make fights and intangibles cause surprises. Excellent boxers almost always beat good ones and so on.
Francis is now 0-2 as a pro so Sulaiman will probably elevate him in the WBC rankings.
Maybe let him fight for a silver or gold title.
Please don’t even mention that name. It might attract him to come here again and write another one of his short stories.
I prefer to see MMA work their internal magic, and I prefer to see boxers work their own internal magic.
Back to PFL for Ngannou hopefully he made ton of money to live comfortably
This is what I told people, that it wouldn’t be nearly the competitive fight that it was with Fury.
Time for Joshua and Parker now to have a rematch with the winner getting a shot at the winner of Fury-Usyk.
Ngannou is not a boxer, and really had no business in the ring with Joshua. Both made a lot of money for this mismatch, so I suppose that’s all that matters today. Ngannou shows that he has absolutely no business in the boxing ring, especially against top-ranked fighters. Joshua continues to truck along, with no fight against Wilder or Fury in sight.
Agree LexusNexus.,..this outcome will happen with even a lower tier heavyweight…..
All I can say is hahahahahahhahaha Greedy Belly you fat Good job restoring some respect for boxing Joshua
Let’s be very real about this. Ngannou would not last 4 rounds against Jarrell Miller. In the shape Miller is in right now. Let me be even more clear. Lucas Browne, TODAY, would stop Ngannou in 6 rounds or less, and make Ngannou look silly.
To anyone that bought into the Ngannou fraud, SHAME ON YOU !!
Agree James…Yet I don’t believe that he is a fraud…Ngannou was unprepared for this level of boxing…Ngannou had the guts to try though…maybe unstable with reality and probability but Ngannou definitely not a fraud….
Back to the MMA big fella, Boxing isn’t for you. Also, #10 rated Heavyweight with an 0-1 record, that’s utter rubbish.
ngannou exposed for being a beginner.
& unlike fury, Aj shows up prepared and in top world class athlete condition (good for him. he always does). is fury shot? or does he still have the capability to be better?
This must have been a confidence boost if anything.
I still think he needs to get through a number of fights before stepping up against Fury. After the Usyk fights, I saw Wilder as the one who would definitely put an end to the interest around Joshua. Now after this fight and after Wilder’s loss against Parker, that fight is starting to appear in a different interesting and intriging light.
Anyway, looking forward to Joshua’s upcoming fights.
Hats off and welcome back.
With this out of the way. If Fury/Usyk have the rematch in Oct, then I think AJ should fight Hergovic for the vacant IBF title with Wilder vs Charr on the undercard for the WBA reggie belt in June/July. If they both win then they can have a “unification” bout in Nov/Dec. The winner then fights the winner of the Fury/Usyk rematch for undisputed. Keeps AJ busy instead of waiting around for Fury or Usyk.
I predicted he’d survive till the third. Styles make fights. Zero head movement.
Woe !! Well…. he done a LOT better than M.S. v M.T. long ago. Fury SET THE MAN UP FOR RICHES!
Joshua beats them heck all out of Fury.
Ant in two!
The fact that the WBC had an 0-1 fighter ranked in the top ten shows the utter corruption with that organization. The WBC, run by a Lebanese businessman out of Mexico, is a complete joke! They also have Sebastian Fundora, who was just brutally knocked out, facing a mediocre Russian for the vacant world super welterweight title, both bypassing undefeated Olympian and #1 ranked Charles Conwell.
and thats how it shouldve been done w fury
He was fighting a miner who was zero wins and 1 loss in his pro career. Ngonnau would be 2 wins 14 losses if he continues.
Have ngannou fight andy ruiz. The fight won’t last a round. Ngannou will be out cold. Why do they keep paying this guy millions of dollars per fight.
Because Ngannou is naturally muscular, massive, intimidating looking and can punch hard. If Ngannou had choir boy looks like Tom Brady, no one would’ve bought into the hype.
Weeks back I said Joshua was going to win easily but not this easy
That’s the problem when you are out of your trade/job/career
Now I wish there is a rematch in ufc
But guess what ???
UFC don’t play with their fans like boxing does
Ngannou was doing well in an orthodox stance, and then out of nowhere, he switches to southpaw. Fatal mistake. He does not put his right foot on the outside of Joshuas left foot, and move right. Instead, he stands right in front of Joshua straight right which now can easily be used against him in this lefty stance. Cannot believe he did that! Shows the inexperience and it cost him dearly.
Tough fight for Francis, but he kept biting on the feints. Anthony did what was supposed to do against a novice.
STARCHED THAT MOFO!!! Go back to MMA my man
Any guy off the street could beat ngannou and this is the ufc champion. What a joke of an organization
My pick was in round five and never ever was a T Fury fan and allways said he was overrated as F..
Imho, kinda predictable. Joshua is a much bigger one-punch hitter than Fury, and Ngannou doesn’t move very well. Joshua needed to take this fight seriously and he didn’t disappoint.
We can surmise and be fair or not or just claim the mma fighter was out of his depth, who knows maybe he was and should have been only fighting a top 30 hw at best. But TF really did not know what to do with FN, really fit or partial fit. He was not fully ready for Wilder fight 1 ,but still handled Silly Billy Wilder. AJ was fast and sharp and firing on all cylinders. This AJ stands a much better chance in a Uysk fight 3. As far as I’m concerned slagging off FN as just that mma former champ now is disingenuous , he looked dangerous for every second he was in there, and had too be dealt with fast.
We can surmise and be fair or not or just claim the Mma fighter was out of his depth, who knows maybe he was and should have been only fighting a top 30 hw at best. But TF really did not know what to do with FN, really fit or partial fit. He was not fully ready for Wilder fight 1 ,but still handled Silly Billy Wilder. AJ was fast and sharp and firing on all cylinders. This AJ stands a much better chance in a Uysk fight 3. As far as I’m concerned slagging off FN, as just that mma former champ now is disingenuous , he looked dangerous for every second he was in there, and had to be dealt with fast.
If Sebastian Fundora can get viciously knocked out in his his last fight and get to fight for the vacant WBC title, then I’m sure Lebanese businessman Mauricio Sulaiman is scrambling to find some sort of WBC belt they can have Ngannou fight for; perhaps the WBC Continental Africa Silver belt or something!
Give AJ , proper credit for his sharp fast destruction of a dangerous opponent , for every minute FN was in that ring he looked dangerous .
I also watched FN fight with Fury again a little ring rust was the only thing I saw ..as issue and not his fitness . Yeah he was fat but , it was the style and technique of FN that caused he issues. Not this excuse now that he is mma fighter . Before TF fight I thought what a load of Bs by Fury and it was then by taking on former MMA fella instead of a top real boxer. But that’s gone and we move on ✌
The blame for these crossover forces falls on Floyd Mayweather when he “fought” that Irish MMA guy for his 50th “win.” Floyd obviously carried his opponent by not even throwing a punch for two rounds. How the Nevada Commission actually sanctioning the 49-0 legend vs. a non-boxer in his pro debut, I’ll never know. That MMA guy wouldn’t have lasted 30 seconds with Tommy Hearns!
Once again, Joseph Parker v Zhilei Zhang should have been the main event1
And let’s make this the last crossover fight, eh? Ngannou had no head movement or effective glove cover on display!
Eddie Hearn just fed his cash-cow Joshua a spectacular gift knockout to enable both of them to rip millions off the gullible Saudis.
When he fought Ngannou, Tyson Fury plainly hadn’t bothered serious training and didn’t even look like he had skipped or sparred a round for a serious fight and – let’s say – only his natural ability saved him.
Is Eddie only going to be happy when one of the deluded UFC wannabes is killed?
No more, Eddie!