RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Anthony Joshua, according to Francis Ngannou, won’t be able to withstand the kind of blows that he delivered to Tyson Fury in October without giving up in their fight on March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
One of the strongest punchers in the heavyweight class, Ngannou, 37, from Cameroon, believes that Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) from England, isn’t able to withstand the kind of blows that Fury took and bounce back the same way.
Throughout the entire battle, Fury took a lot of big hits, and in the final rounds, he lost his composure. In one case, we witnessed Fury forcefully elbow Ngannou in the head, and the former UFC champion didn’t even close the distance. That was quite remarkable. Deontay Wilder probably wouldn’t have been able to get back up if Fury had struck him with the same elbow.
Most people would say that Anthony Joshua, 34, lacks much of a chin and would have a lengthy record of knockout losses if Eddie Hearn, his promoter, hadn’t kept him away from strong punchers over his 11-year professional career.
Joshua was stopped by Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019, and if Wladimir Klitschko hadn’t strangely backed off after dropping him in the sixth, he would have done the same to Joshua in 2017.
“Yeah, I have a doubt about that. Tyson showed that he’s very resilient. I saw him come back from knockdowns like you wouldn’t believe. So I think he’s probably one of the most resistant [sic] person out there, and that’s not a disrespect to AJ. I don’t believe that AJ would take what Tyson did,” said Ngannou in media reports when asked if Joshua could withstand the strikes he gave Tyson Fury in October of last year.
It should be quite evident that Ngannou will have an easy time on March 8th if he hits Joshua’s chin with blows similar to what he did against Fury. Joshua is incapable of taking such kind of blows without falling to the ground. Even if AJ may stand up after the shots, Ngannou’s might will keep knocking him down until the referee is compelled to end the match.
“Who hasn’t knocked Tyson down? So many people have knocked Tyson down,” said Joshua in media reports.
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