Fightsport fans and beyond will be tuning their gaze to the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Friday (March 8 2024), to see Francis Ngannou stepping into the boxing ring for only the second time against one of the most decorated boxers in recent history, Anthony Joshua. The main event is scheduled to begin at 18:00 ET / 15:00 PT., and the PPV can be purchased here.
So who will come out the victor?
Breaking down Ngannou
Francis Ngannou recently shocked the world by putting on a stellar performance against, who many argue, is the greatest heavyweight of all time, Tyson Fury, only to lose a razor thin, and very debated, split decision.
But with the recent announcement of Ngannou fighting the winner of Ryan Bader vs Renan Ferreira at last month’s PFL vs Bellator Championship (spoiler alert: Ferreira won) in an MMA matchup, some may have forgotten about Ngannou’s upcoming bout where he will have to rely solely on his punches, in hopes of taking down the English Olympian. However, if you know anything about combat sports, then you’ll know that even in the UFC cage, punches were the only tools Ngannou relied on anyway, boasting the hardest punch ever recorded. And although boxing gloves provide much more padding than the skimpy MMA gloves, that padding did little to protect the jaw of Tyson Fury, who suffered a knockdown at the hands of the thunderous Cameroonian. Aside from this one fight, however, there is essentially nothing upon which to judge Ngannou’s boxing prowess, because Ngannou’s game plan is simple: hit hard and hit clean.
“If I land on anybody, I’ll knock him out,” said Francis Ngannou in a recent SkySports interview.
Breaking down Joshua
A few years ago, Joshua was the towering, hard-hitting, handsome, undefeated heavyweight champion, who put on one of the most impressive comebacks of all time when he knocked out Vladimir Klitschko with an uppercut so devastating it looked as if Klitschko’s head was going to fly clean off. But as with many athletes, then came a hiccup.
After getting slept by the there’s-no-way-that-little-fat-guy-is-going-to-KO-that-tall-buff-guy Andy Ruiz Jr, in turn breaking Joshua’s undefeated record, AJ won the rematch in a technical, yet boring, masterclass, only to lose back to back fights against Oleksandr Usyk. After that precarious run, he is now back in the win column with three straight wins, and as athletes know, confidence is everything, something with which AJ is oozing leading up to this Friday. And, as mentioned, one could make the argument that Joshua is a much more technical, and in turn much more ‘boring’ fighter than Fury, and should he utilise this approach, then Joshua could come out the victor.
“I’d love to knock Ngannou out and make a statement,” AJ said in a recent interview with Sky Sports. “And I absolutely believe that I can.”
Joshua will undoubtedly be able to relate to the surging hype that is surrounding Ngannou at the moment – tall, scary, hard hitting superstar – and it’s no secret that, according to Dana White, Ngannou’s biggest enemy is his own ego, having been criticised for demanding more money, higher PPV percentage, more sponsorship deals, etc.
This appears to be the ultimate Icarus test, as Ngannou is constantly switching between boxing and MMA, with recent talks of him fighting Jon Jones in the near future, and one can only worry if his ambidextrous interests will serve as his down fall, and if he will simply fly too close to the sun.
Who do ya got?
