Two famous trainers predict Anthony Joshua versus Francis Ngannou

Follow Us Now!

Two trainers said who they expect to win today’s boxing bout between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou.

Joshua and Ngannou are former heavyweight champions in boxing and MMA, respectively, but are going to match skill and strength today in Joshua’s sport at Saudi Arabia.

Despite Ngannou’s being a traditional newbie in the discipline, his debut match against Tyson Fury last year proved that the Cameroonian brought his most dangerous asset into the squared circle.

This asset is ‘The Predator’s’ ability to knock out or destabilize his opponents with a clean punch — by which struck Fury down during their match.

All this put into consideration, WBO interim heavyweight titleholder Zheilei Zhang’s trainer, Shaun George, gave the following prediction:

‘Joshua gets stopped, that’s my opinion. I’m the one to say it: Anthony Joshua gets stopped in this fight.

‘Joshua is the better boxer; he should win this fight. But when I look at Francis Ngannou… you got to take into consideration that the rhythm is different… MMA fighters go against boxers and their rhythm is different, they fight at a different pace.

‘I’m not sure Anthony Joshua can make that adjustment.’

However, Joshua’s former coach, Angel Fernandez, had a different opinion.

‘With fighters you have to start to come back into confidence and belief a bit more in yourself,’ said Fernandez. ‘You have to give him time and progression to get that confidence back.

‘If we had two or three fights in between that we win, to get back to who he was before. Now, hopefully, Ben [Davison] brings that out of AJ.

‘Any fight is dangerous, especially against Ngannou. Both are great fighters. I think the game plan for AJ is to sit behind the jab, footwork and use the distance.

‘That doesn’t mean on the back foot, but he needs to instead get Ngannou to fight on the back foot, so I believe he can get the win.’

There is reportedly a greater number of people backing Joshua than Ngannou, which is understandable.

Punch power gives Ngannou a big chance for victory, but skills and respectable strength makes Joshua the top dog.