With simply over a week to go up until Francis Ngannou’s 2nd trip in an expert boxing ring, British heavyweight Joe Joyce can see the previous UFC heavyweight champ scoring an upset success versus Anthony Joshua.
The 2 powerhouse strikers, both previous world champs of their particular codes of fight sports, clash in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia next Friday night in a bout that as soon as again see Ngannou noted as an expensive underdog versus the 2012 Olympic gold medallist Joshua.
Come battle time, however, the chances will likely be a little narrower than they were for Ngannou’s boxing launching last October versus the unbeaten WBC heavyweight champ Tyson Fury, who got away from the Middle East with a split choice win and a bruised ego to match the swelling on his face after 10 rounds in the ring with ‘The Predator.’
And boxing beginner or not, Joe Joyce– the British Olympic silver winner who has actually formerly sparred with Ngannou– states that, even with his absence of experience, Ngannou can present some major issues to Joshua when the trade heavy leather next week.
“Because he’s an MMA fighter and he’s not truly been focusing on boxing, he was a bit more open and I might type of see where the shots were originating from, vacate the method and keep him on the jab,” Joyce informed Sky Sports of a 2020 sparring session with Ngannou. “But them power shots are whistling previous my abs and my chin at the same time!”
Joyce included: “But we had an actually great spar and I’ve got a great deal of regard for Ngannou.”
Much has actually been made in the lead-up to the battle of Joshua’s expected frailty towards power punchers, consisting of from Ngannou who has actually sworn to “evaluate” Joshua’s punch strength, and Joyce believes that his fellow citizen may have a hard time if the previous UFC champ can land flush.
“If he lands among those huge shots like he struck Fury with then I do not believe Joshua’s going to get up from that,” Joyce stated. “He [Joshua] will most likely be cagey therein. I believe it’s going to be an excellent battle. As a compare they’ve both got power. I believe it’s an excellent battle.
“He boxed actually well versus Fury. It’s a remarkable story,” Joyce continued. “Reached the heights of UFC and after that challenged probably the very best in Tyson Fury and provided him a run for his cash. He’s a little bit of a wild card.”
