Joe Joyce, who shared his experience sparring with Francis Ngannou a few years ago, has advised Anthony Joshua to avoid the strength of the Cameroonian.
On March 8, in an event fittingly dubbed “Knockout Chaos,” Joshua and Ngannou square off in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With a record of 27-3-0 24 KO, Anthony Joshua is the clear favorite because of his superior experience and skill. Though Ngannou is a novice boxer, his formidable strength will make him a formidable opponent despite his lack of experience.
Joyce is no stranger to Ngannou’s strength, having sparred with him in 2020 as the former British heavyweight champion.
“I could kind of see where the shots were coming from, move out of the way, and keep him on the job because he’s an MMA fighter and he hasn’t been concentrating on boxing,” Joyce said to Sky Sports. However, those power bullets are whizzing by both my chin and my abs! We had an excellent spar, and I hold Ngannou in high regard.
In a well-publicized crossover fight against Tyson Fury in October of last year, Ngannou made his boxing debut. Ngannou, who had no chance against the undefeated world champion, impressively boxed and put Fury to the ground en route to a close split decision loss.
Joyce Issues Warning Regarding ‘Wild Card’ Ngannou
When he stopped Fury in the third round, the Cameroonian showed off his entire strength, and Joyce believes Joshua could be stopped with a clean blow.
Naturally. I don’t think Joshua will recover from that if he hits one of those huge shots like he did to Fury, Joyce stated. Joshua will likely act reticently inside. It should be an exciting fight, in my opinion. In a match, they are both powerful. I think this fight is fantastic.
“He did a great job of boxing against Fury. It’s an incredible tale. reached the pinnacles of the UFC before taking on and defeating Tyson Fury, who is considered to be the finest. He’s a little unpredictable.
Two of Joyce’s previous opponents will square off in the ring in the co-main event of Joshua vs. Ngannou when WBO interim champion Zhilei Zhang fights Joseph Parker. The former Olympic silver medallist won the WBO interim championship after stopping Parker in the eleventh round of their September 2021 battle; nevertheless, he had lost both of his previous fights by devastating knockouts to Zhang.
Joyce acknowledges that, despite naming Zhang the small favorite, he wants to see Parker prevail and thinks the New Zealander has what it takes to defeat Zhang.
Joyce Aims for Major Battles
Since Parker is younger than Zhang, Joyce predicted that if Parker can exhaust Zhang in the latter rounds and push him, Parker may be able to finish the fight by landing some blows and possibly knocking him out.
Zhang’s feet are incredibly still, yet he still has the force and speed that Parker can muster. Parker can move a little more. He’s also has toughness. Parker will therefore need to box in and out. Perhaps he’s more skilled at battling southpaws than I am. Zhang is who I would bet on if I were a betting guy. However, I hope Parker prevails.
Regarding his upcoming fight schedule, Joyce will battle Kash Ali domestically in Birmingham, England on March 16 to avenge those two defeats to Zhang.
Joyce had risen steadily through the heavyweight ranks after impressively stopping Parker and Daniel Dubois, but his hopes of winning a world title were dashed by his losses to Zhang. He does, however, intend to return to the race later this year.
“Everything is taking place at heavyweight,” he stated. “It would be fantastic to go up against any of those well-known names that we just discussed. A rematch between [Daniel] Dubois and Parker. Wilder, Joshua, Fury, and [Oleksandr] Usyk are among them. I can box everyone. There are many exciting conflicts in the entertainment industry that you would like to see me in.
