Joe Joyce speaks after sparring with Francis Ngannou

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Former undefeated WBO interim heavyweight titleholder Joe Joyce sparred with ex-UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, and has now shared his thoughts ahead of Anthony Joshua versus Francis Ngannou.

Ngannou’s first boxing bout ended in a controversial loss which he did not seem to give any importance. He now has opportunity to have his first pro boxing victory by beating Joshua at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Joyce whose undefeated status was changed by China’s Zheilei Zhang is still trying to get back to the top contenders, but has sparred with Ngannou and Joshua.

While speaking to Sky Sports recently, the Brit said the following about his sparring session with Ngannou:

‘Because he’s an MMA fighter and he’s not really been concentrating on boxing, he was a little bit more open and I could kind of see where the shots were coming from, move out the way and keep him on the jab. But them power shots are whistling past my abs and my chin in the process!’

‘Of course. If he lands one of those big shots like he hit Fury with then I don’t think Joshua’s going to get up from that.

‘He [Joshua] will probably be cagey in there. I think it’s going to be a good fight. As a match up they’ve both got power. I think it’s a great fight.’

This shows that a fast, hard-hitting Joshua would find it easy to land winning combinations on Ngannou, but that would be mean to mistakenly take one of Ngannou’s light-taking punches.