Stay in the cage
THE powerful right hand of British heavyweight Anthony Joshua did not just send Cameroonian Francis Ngannou to dreamland. The punch also sent a clear, if not chilling, message to mixed martial arts stars looking to make the foray into pro boxing.
The message is simple: Stay in the cage.
Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champion, stunned many when he debuted in pro boxing last October by taking on reigning WBC heavyweight champ Tyson Fury in a non-title bout. Ngannou did not just last the distance with Fury, but he even knocked down the reigning champ in the third round with a well-timed left hook. Ngannou lost via a close split decision. Believe it or not, Ngannou won on the scorecard of one judge.
Ngannou earned praise for his unbelievable performance against Fury.
However, many forgot that Fury showed up in the fight out of shape. Fury did not take the fight seriously, ardently believing that he needed only one mighty sneeze to topple the boxing tyro Ngannou.
Joshua did not commit the same mistake when it was his turn to face Ngannou.
Joshua, a former unified heavyweight champion, showed up in excellent condition and needed only the basic boxing fundamentals to dispatch Ngannou. Joshua’s jabs and feints repeatedly befuddled Ngannou’ defense.
When Ngannou could not get past Joshua’s pesky left jab, he tried shifting to a southpaw stance to enable his right hand to block the left jab.
Joshua wisely adjusted. He resorted to feinting a left jab to the body and
Ngannou reacted instinctively by dropping his guard to protect his breadbasket. Ngannou repeatedly fell for Joshua’s feints. This gave Joshua the opening he needed to unload his killer right hand.
Joshua knocked down Ngannou in the first round with a long right hand. In the second round, Joshua floored Ngannou again before setting him for up for a devastating finish in the same round. A crushing right hand from Joshua knocked out Ngannou cold at 2:38 of the second round.
Ngannou absorbed his most numbing setback as a pro boxer and MMA star. Joshua did to Ngannou what Fury should have done if only Fury took the fight with the Cameroonian seriously.
Joshua improved his record to 28-3 with 25 knockouts. He scored his fourth straight victory since losing to Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk in August 2022.
Joshua had appeared tentative and uninspired in his fights leading to the showdown with Ngannou. Not many thought the knockout loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. in June 2019 left his confidence in tatters.
Joshua took a huge risk in facing Ngannou. A loss would have jeopardized a title fight with the winner of the Fury-Usyk fight on May 18 and exposed him to truckloads of ridicule.
Joshua, however, knew that Ngannou does not belong in the same boxing ring with him.
Joshua’s emphatic knockout victory clearly drove home the point that MMA stars are better off staying in their backyard. Pro boxing is a totally different discipline that cannot be mastered overnight. Ngannou may have performed well against Fury, but the latter’s mind was not really in the fight.
Joshua showed that in the ordinary course of business, a well-conditioned, experienced pro boxer is likely to beat the hell out of a MMA practitioner looking to make a cameo in the punch-for-pay business. Ngannou was one of the toughest competitors in the UFC, but Joshua figured him out using only the basics and flattened him with aplomb.
Ngannou, of course, is far from finished with pro boxing. Do not bet on a full-time return to MMA for the dude. He just bankrolled an estimated $20 million for the Joshua fight. This is money he will never earn in one fight in the UFC or in any other MMA organization. The highest Ngannou earned in the UFC was $600,000.00. In the fight with Fury, he reportedly earned around $10 million.
Ngannou told reporters that he might figure in one MMA fight before returning to pro boxing. He still wants a rematch with Fury and possibly a fight with former champion and power puncher Deontay Wilder. A fight with Wilder is interesting, given that the American offers unpolished skills but horrific punching power. Wilder’s confidence is also suspect as he does not seem to be the same fighter after getting knocked out by Fury in October 2021.
With so much money to earn in pro boxing, Ngannou figures to extend his stay.