Francis Ngannou believes he has the power to knock out anyone, including Anthony Joshua.
On Friday, March 8, the former UFC heavyweight champion returns to the boxing ring five months removed from his critically acclaimed showing against WBC titleholder Tyson Fury in October. Though he came up short, suffering a razor-close and highly contestable split decision, Ngannou’s performance was good enough to land him in the No. 10 spot on the WBC rankings.
Returning to Riyadh, Ngannou will face top-ranked contender Anthony Joshua in a bout appropriately dubbed Knockout Chaos.
Speaking with Andy Scott of Sky Sports days before their highly anticipated scrap at Kingdom Arena, Ngannou shared some insight into his training camp and how he’s feeling before once again strapping on the eight-ounce gloves.
“I’m feeling good. Very excited,” Ngannou said. “I finished my training yesterday. It’s been a tough eight weeks to get here and feeling like you’ve done everything that you should have done is amazing. I can’t wait for the fight now.”
Unbelievable levels!!!
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) February 27, 2024
Ngannou’s performance against Tyson Fury was nothing short of spectacular. Going into the contest as a massive underdog, ‘The Predator’ had no problem standing and trading with ‘The Gypsy King’ for 10 rounds, and even scored a knockdown against the P4P great in the third round.
Asked how he plans to prepare for Joshua in contrast to how he trained for the Fury fight, Ngannou said:
“Tyson Fury is very slick. He has a lot of footwork and a lot of body movement, but at the end of the day, I think it’s the same. When you train for Tyson Fury, the same thing goes with Anthony Joshua. You just have to note his power punch, but I think it’s basically the same. Good footwork, step back. All that stuff.”
When it comes to power, few hit harder than Francis Ngannou. Between 2015 and 2022, he scored 12 victories under the UFC banner with 11 of them coming by way of knockout, including wins over former world champions Andrei Arlovski, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, and Stipe Miocic.
“I believe if I land on anybody, I’ll knock him out,” Ngannou added. “The question is, how to land? That’s the hardest thing. Everyone in this division… Almost everybody here can knock everyone out, but you learn how to carry that power and that energy from the first round to the fifth round and 10 rounds and still be able to hit somebody hard or knock somebody out after all the fatigue and everything. It’s a chess game.”