This Friday’s heavyweight contest between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou is not expected to be a stroll in the park for the former unified heavyweight champion as he puts his reputation, and that of his division, on the line against an eager and confident Ngannou. With less than twelve hours left until the main event kicks off, we explore the burdens that Anthony Joshua shoulders as he prepares himself for his 31st professional fight against arguably the most powerful man in any combat sports.
With Anthony Joshua (27-0, 24 KO’s) weighing in at a career-average weight of 252½ lbs during yesterday’s weigh-ins, while Francis Ngannou (0-1, 0 KO’s) came in twenty pounds heavier at 272½ lbs, Joshua will be fighting the second-heaviest opponent he has ever faced―with only Andy Ruiz Jr (35-2, 22 KO’s) trumping Ngannou’s weight when he came in at 283½ pounds with excess fat during his rematch against Joshua in December of 2019.
Joshua, who suffers from the reputation of being ‘chinny’―a phrase meant to denote a fighter whose chin resistance is weak, will be facing an opponent in Ngannou built out of solid muscle rather than fat, allowing any notions of a weak chin to be fully explored in today’s upcoming fight.
Despite Ngannou having shown his credentials during his fight against Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KO’s) last year, numerous factors seem to be headed towards a collision course towards Joshua who will not only need to perform better than Fury did, but find a way to win a decisive victory.
The reason for there being such a high priority for Anthony Joshua to win boils down to the fact that Ngannou is inexperienced within professional boxing, despite his accolades in MMA which saw him become one of the UFC’s most recognized heavyweights even before he became a champion. With Ngannou having repeatedly stated that he will enter the ring without any substantial amateur or pro boxing experience, the entire heavyweight division is now in a fragile position, and gives rise for even boxing to be affected.
As a notorious MMA fighter with only one loss on his record, a victory for Ngannou would serve to destabilize the heavyweight division which has seen the rise of renowned champions such as Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson become the most recogizable figures in the history of the entire sport. With Joshua having been regarded as at least the ‘face’ of heavyweight boxing when he was still a champion, his name still carries enough weight for a potential defeat by the hands of Ngannou to impact the heavyweight division forever.
While Fury’s controversial victory over Ngannou should have already been considered a fatal blow to the division, Joshua represents the last obstacle preventing the current weight class’ era from being denounced as the worst heavyweight era in boxing, made worse by the fact this loss came by the hands of a complete boxing novice.
Furthermore, Joshua’s own reputation is heavily at stake with his credentials as a unified heavyweight champion now challenged by an upstart in Ngannou who has a single loss to his record. With boxers widely considered to be the best in combat when it comes to stand-up fights, the fight between Joshua and Ngannou represents a battle between two sports; boxing and MMA.
With there being no doubt that Ngannou would easily defeat Joshua in a MMA bout, Joshua now has the pressure to prove he can do something similar in boxing. Though MMA encompasses a wide variety of combat disciplines, including boxing, boxers are considered to be the top in their field to the point not any former or current MMA champion can simply apply or a professional boxing license and challenge the top.
In many regards, Francis Ngannou has proven to be an anomaly in this regard, becoming the only-known MMA fighter to be able to compete against top heavyweight competitors on an even keel―as proven in his last match against Tyson Fury.
While Conor McGregor notoriously sought to disprove the notion that MMA fighters were able to compete against top boxers when he faced Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2017, the outcome of the fight sealed boxing’s superiority as a stand-up combat sport; until the arrival of Francis Ngannou.
A lot is shouldered on Anthony Joshua, though perhaps he is exactly the right fighter due to having been in such a position before when he was a champion―with every victory he accomplished only driving up the stakes in every next match. Even after losing thrice, with two losses coming against current unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KO’s), Joshua has reclaimed his position as a top fighter following three build-up fights in 2023 that culminated in a dominant victory over a fellow top heavyweight contender in Otto Wallin (26-2, 14 KO’s), and the British heavyweight can become the next opponent for whoever becomes the undisputed heavyweight champion on May 18th.
With Ngannou also set to become the opponent for the heavyweight undisputed champion if he wins against Joshua, Joshua is back in a scenario where his best chance to do anything substantial going forward is by winning his fight against Ngannou, which would see him squarely become a top contender in the division.
However, given Ngannou’s lack of experience in boxing, Anthony Joshua is also expected to win decisively and put to bed any notion that a MMA champion can come into the sport and dominate.
With the rewards of a crack at the future heavyweight undisputed champion on the cards for the winner, both fighters are expected to put on a show that will justify the moniker of “Knockout Chaos” that has been attached to the event as they engage tonight at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
