Joshua Demolishes N’Gannou in Two Rounds
Anthony Joshua (left) knocks down Francis N’Gannou (right) in their bout on Friday night. (via The Independent)
Former two time Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Anthony Joshua completely dominated former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Francis N’Gannou in their boxing match on Friday night.
In the lead up to this fight, many believed that since N’Gannou now had a significant period of time to train in boxing, he could genuinely compete against the best boxers in the world. After all, he did put on a great performance against the greatest heavyweight boxer of this generation, Tyson Fury, in his first venture into boxing. On Friday night, this certainly was not the case.
According to the journalists announcing ringside, N’Gannou was said to be calm and collected in his locker room, while looking sharp hitting the pads. While Joshua had an aura of uneasiness about him inside his locker room. However, he did look sharp on the pads according to his boxing promoter, Eddie Hearn.
In the first round, N’Gannou certainly looked more free and fluid than he did in the opening round against Fury, but his punches always seemed to be just missing their mark against the faster Joshua. Then Joshua unloaded a razor sharp right hand, one of his only punches in the first round, which knocked N’Gannou to the canvas. After getting up after an eight count, N’Gannou did enough to miss the following shots coming from Joshua.
In the second round, it was more of the same. N’Gannou attempted to land the left hook while getting tagged while closing the distance. Then Joshua landed another perfect right straight that sent N’Gannou to the canvas yet again. Twice more than the current Heavyweight Champion, Fury. Once N’Gannou returned to his feet, the look on his face showed the concern of someone about to lose. Just as the fight was resumed, he was immediately folded and knocked out by a furious overhand right by Joshua, ending the bout. The video of both round two knockouts was posted to DAZN’s X page.
To say this was unexpected was an understatement. N’Gannou had never been finished in his entire mixed martial arts or boxing career, and the fact that he was thoroughly dominated through two rounds on the feet is nearly unprecedented. The only person who was legitimately able to stand with N’Gannou and realize success was former Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion, Ciryl Gane, who ended up losing via unanimous decision to N’Gannou.
Joshua is now on a four fight win streak and just derailed the biggest hype train in boxing. It seems as if Joshua has regained the hunger and drive that brought him to the pinnacle of the sport in 2018. He now has made the case that he could genuinely challenge for the title once again, even if it may take him one more win to get there. Regardless of this, Joshua showed out in this fight and it will be interesting to see whether or not he will return to boxing sooner or later.
