Hasim Rahman: ‘Francis Ngannou will have a different fight’
Former world heavyweight boxer Hasim Rahman has given his prediction concerning the bout between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou.
The two heavyweights will lock horns on March 8 in what will be Ngannou’s second pro boxing bout.
Joshua is coming from a fifth-round victory over Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin, while Ngannou’s past match had been his debut in which he lost by a narrow split decision to Tyson Fury.
Rahman mentioned that Joshua fought well against Wallin. While speaking to FightHype, he said, ‘I think Joshua looked a lot better, and now he has a body of work to look at so he can prepare well for Ngannou.
‘We know the guy is tough, he’s for real, he’s cracking, so it’s a little different. When you know what you’re going in there with, preparation is the key.’
Retired Rahman who famously scored an upset against Lennox Lewis said the following about the future fight:
‘I think it’ll be a good fight while it lasts. I think Joshua will beat him. At this point, Ngannou is not unknown anymore. Now he’s a Top 10 contender, so Joshua has to train differently for him than Fury trained for him.
‘Fury trained thinking he would knock him out, Joshua will train for a Top 10 contender so you will see a significantly different fight and I think Joshua will prevail.’
Tyson Fury will fight Oleksander Usyk on February 17 in pursuit of the undisputed world heavyweight title. Whoever wins between Joshua and Ngannou gets to fight the winner of this fight.