Francis Ngannou’s second professional boxing contest will be treated a lot more respectfully than his first. This is with good reason, having proved last October against Tyson Fury that he was a genuine threat to the best heavyweight on earth. This time he will face Anthony Joshua.
Francis Ngannou is now entering his next contest against Anthony Joshua. As he does so boxing fans now begrudgingly recognise he might be able to floor any man alive.
This was not unknown to MMA fans before the Fury fight. Yet only the most optimistic felt he would have a delivery system for this power against a heavyweight like Fury. The majority felt that simply getting the fight, and the payday that came with it, was Ngannou’s win.
What the fight was then was largely agreed upon by the majority of both sides of the MMA/boxing divide. An annoying formality before Fury finally agrees to fight Usyk.
How Francis Ngannou Shocked the World
To be sure then, all the credit must go to Ngannou and his team for their strategy. Although most thought it would be Ngannou’s power, if anything, that would surprise Fury, initially it was his strength. Fury, an avid exploiter of the clinch, could not effectively lean on Ngannou the way he liked.
The first look of surprise from Fury that indicated he realised the mistake he made under-preparing for Ngannou came when he tried to lean on the MMA fighter.
Embed from Getty ImagesPunching his way into the clinch Fury is immediately met with the reality of trying to grapple with a man who has practised wrestling for the past decade. Ngannou maintained a rigid posture and could frame on Fury. As opposed to fighters like Wilder who let Fury bear his weight down upon them and tire them out.
The one thing Fury lacks in comparison to other heavyweights is power. This holding and leaning strategy would usually play a large part in atrophying his opponent’s conditioning. Fury’s facial expression then was a realisation that one of his favourite strategies for beating world-class boxers wouldn’t work on a man making his debut.
Francis Ngannou’s Power
The other of Ngannou’s attributes that he used was his power. The third-round knockdown came off a left hook counter to Fury’s right hand that drove Fury onto his side. With his chin threatened and his clinch game now nullified. An under-prepared Fury had to content himself with flick-jabbing to victory.
Embed from Getty ImagesAt range, he would be winning, but his hesitancy to step in prevented him from creating the spectacle he wanted. It also allowed the narrative to gain traction that Ngannou had won before the fight even ended. This was not helped by Ngannou landing more big punches whenever Fury felt safe to step back into range.
With these combinations, Ngannou offered a handful of hooking body shots and a strong jab to the body. Altogether it was probably the most impressive professional boxing debut of all time.
Fury Underestimated Ngannou
As well as giving Ngannou credit for bringing a unique set of skills to the contest. Any serious analysis must also ask questions of Fury. All that was required of Fury was to search for a compilation video of Ngannou’s knockouts to understand the threat. Yet he and his team were presumably unwilling to even do this based on the performance.
Before he had felt the power and strength of Ngannou, Fury came out aggressively in the first hunting a knockout. Once he realised he couldn’t easily attain it he reverted to his movement and his jab. Strategically then, he was caught somewhere between his tactics for the first and second Wilder fights.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt wasn’t that Fury lacked the smarts or heart for better results, he already showed he had both against Wilder. Instead, it was that he entered the contest unprepared to use those attributes to win.
Fury during the build-up found himself in the familiar position of trying to convince the public of the skills of his opponent whilst not believing in them himself. If Fury’s promotional team did believe, as many claimed, that Ngannou’s perceived slowness in the open workout was a bluff to make us underestimate him, then their faces on the front row did not indicate this after the knockdown.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe promoter’s pre-fight predictions of a competitive contest were also proved disingenuous when they cancelled the post-fight press conference. This was after the fight was competitive, as they had claimed it would be. The fight then was the epitome of a greedy cash grab gone wrong. Everyone except Francis Ngannou had decided on the script already.
Promotional Arrogance?
The uniqueness of this fight cannot be overstated then. The promotional campaign for the fight was based on something the promoters did not believe would happen. A competitive fight between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou. The campaign then was publicly proven right. However judging by the faces of Frank Warren and Bob Arum, it did not go as was intended.
This is only further confirmed by the cancellation of the press conference. When Fury did edge the fight on the scorecard, this was the only victory that he could claim from the whole episode. This loss that shows on everywhere but his boxing record, will seemingly forever tarnish his legacy. That is unless Ngannou finds more success in boxing.
What This Means for the Joshua Fight
Recent announcements that Anthony Joshua will face Francis Ngannou have been met with mixed reactions. On the one hand, Ngannou just gave the best heavyweight in the world a competitive fight that he arguably won. On the other, he has a 0-1 professional boxing record. Whatever the case, neither Hearn nor Joshua care and are as eager as Fury was to profit from Ngannou’s name.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhereas Fury only had money to gain and was unknowingly risking everything else stepping into the ring, Joshua finds himself in a different position. After all, if Anthony Joshua was to have a competitive fight with Ngannou it would be against a man who could challenge Fury.
The Fury fight then has given Ngannou as a “novice” unprecedented credibility for a professional boxer of his experience which Joshua’s team should be hoping does not match up to his actual skillset. Joshua will undoubtedly fancy his chances regardless. Yet the best-case scenario for Joshua is undoubtedly that Ngannou’s last performance was an anomaly.
Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou Breakdown
If Anthony Joshua can learn from Fury’s mistakes before going into the fight, this still will not guarantee him the win. As long as the fight goes on he still must contend with the problem of Ngannou’s power, which it is unlikely he will be able to absorb unaffected.
Interestingly though he is not a big user of the proactive clinch. The strategy so often employed by Fury which Ngannou negated. If the heavyweight MMA fighter can leverage some advantages against some boxers, Joshua on paper doesn’t appear to be one of them.
Anthony Joshua also doesn’t use lateral movement in the way Fury does, preferring instead to stay planted behind his jab to set up his power punches. Although this might make him more open to Ngannou’s shots it will also give him the potential to get Ngannou out quickly avoiding any of Fury’s controversies.
In his last fight, Joshua, under Ben Davison, seemed to finally find the perfect balance between powerful offence and defensive responsibility. Joshua gained positional control of the contest before violently disposing of Otto Wallin. Against Ngannou, although he might be punished less often for making mistakes, the consequences could be greater when he is. Joshua therefore has a huge amount to lose.
Francis Ngannou’s Achievements
The important thing to remember when looking at this contest is that no matter what, Francis Ngannou is a winner. Coming from some of the worst poverty on earth and willing his current predicament into existence when everyone else doubted him, he stands as a generational outlier.
He has forced us to seriously consider his upcoming boxing match when people were laughed at for doing so before his last one. Once again he finds himself, only to a slightly lesser extent, with nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Image Credit: Deposit Photos
This fight could go either way. A joshua loss, its game over for his career
Will certainly be explosive that’s for sure
Battle of the Africans.
Ngannou takes the one, was unlucky again Fury