The Return of Anthony Joshua: AJ destroys Francis Ngannou in two rounds
What's next for the former two-time world heavyweight champion?
Anthony Joshua landed one of the best right hands ever to knock out Francis Ngannou in the second round last night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Joshua vs Ngannou was billed as ‘Knockout Chaos’ and this lived up to expectations as AJ dropped the former UFC Heavyweight Champion twice before landing the finishing blow.
Going into the contest, Ngannou was lauded for having a granite chin. The Cameroonian had never been stopped in the UFC and was completely unfazed by Tyson Fury’s punches last October, even absorbing an illegal elbow in the face.
But when Joshua connected with a third flush right hand, Ngannou’s 272.5 lb, god-like body folded like a deck chair.
Ngannou showed incredible bravery to beat the referee’s count for the first two knockdowns, yet Joshua made sure boxing would not suffer embarrassment again.
Indeed, Fury vs Ngannou was such a competitive bout that many perceived Joshua-Ngannou as a genuine 50-50 fight.
And ‘The Gypsy King’ ringside, was possibly one of the most shocked people in the whole of the atmosphere-less Kingdom arena.
After all, unlike the majority of sports, professional boxing is all about perception.
For example, no one can deny Manchester City were the best football team in the world last season because they won pretty much everything.
In contrast, despite not capturing all world titles and not yet facing Joshua or Oleksandr Usyk, Fury was viewed by numerous boxing pundits as the best heavyweight in the world.
Boxers don’t fight each other every week and styles make fights. It’s rock, paper and scissors. It’s chess, not checkers.
One year ago, if you asked the average person who would win out of Fury and Joshua, Fury would have received more votes, whereas now it’s likely to be a lot closer. In the last six months, AJ’s reputation has bounced back while Fury’s stock has fallen.
More than anything, Joshua’s win over Ngannou yesterday throws questions to Fury in the same way that Parker’s landslide victory against Deontay Wilder in December does.
Fury captured a controversial split-decision win over Ngannou and in his three fights with Wilder, he touched the canvas four times.
Meanwhile, after losing twice in a row to Usyk, Joshua was written off by a lot of fans. It was like AJ just needed to turn up, let his hands go against the former undisputed cruiserweight champion, and ride off into the sunset.
Though this didn’t happen and following somewhat shaky performances against Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius, the ‘Joshua is finished’ narrative came about. Until, of course, he stopped Otto Wallin in five one-sided rounds.
No one can deny Joshua has regained his confidence since teaming up with Ben Davison and Lee Wylie. But a little bit of context is also needed when looking at the list of names AJ has on his resume.
Fury vs Usyk is rescheduled for May 18th in Saudi Arabia and the result of this fight could paint an even clearer picture of the heavyweight landscape.
Because if Fury loses to Usyk in worse fashion than Joshua, it’s possible that AJ was the next best heavyweight all along.
And even though Eddie Hearn claimed that Joshua was the greatest heavyweight in the world after knocking out Ngannou, we won’t know for sure until he fights Usyk for a third time or if he battles Fury.
In a nutshell, the last 24 hours do signify the return of Anthony Joshua. However, this representation goes beyond the ring.
Yes, the man from Watford is back to knocking people unconscious and being merciless in the squared circle. But more notably, the hype and belief behind Joshua is set to resurge which means there are exciting times ahead for British boxing.
The reality is that Fury-Usyk has a rematch clause. So Joshua is unlikely to face the winner until late 2024 or sometime in 2025.
Nevertheless, there are a few potential opponents for AJ where he could reiterate to the boxing world that he is truly back to his best.
One is Filip Hrgovic, who Joshua could face for the IBF Heavyweight Championship, as the winner of Fury-Usyk is likely to be stripped of their world titles, due to not fulfilling mandatory obligations.
Another option is Joseph Parker. AJ and Parker famously shared the ring in 2018 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff with the IBF, WBA, and WBO titles all on the line.
Joshua won clear on points but Parker is arguably the heavyweight most on form following two upset victories in a row against Wilder and last night against Zhilei Zhang.
Parker-Zhang also has a rematch clause but if the New Zealander wins again, he is unlikely to decline a lucrative matchup against Joshua in the future.
Apart from Parker or Zhang, Joshua could take on some of the up-and-coming talents like Daniel Dubois or Agit Kabayel.