With his blockbuster fight against Francis Ngannou now less than two weeks away, the eyes of the boxing world are shifting once again onto Anthony Joshua.
Ngannou shocked the world with his performance against Tyson Fury in October, and Joshua can ill afford to take the former UFC star lightly on March 8 in Riyadh.
The two heavyweight behemoths went back-and-forth for 20 minutes in a head-to-head on DAZN’s YouTube channel, a feature which has been viewed over two million times and raised some interesting talking points.
Armchair analyst True Geordie has weighed in with his two cents on his channel The Pain Game – and believes Ngannou looked a more confident figure than Joshua during their time together.
In a video entitled Joshua Hesitates in Ngannou Face Off, True Geordie claimed the Brit looked to have a slightly different demeanour than before his stoppage win over Otto Wallin in December.
@francis_ngannou is aware of the experience gap, but undeterred in self-belief đź’Ş
Buy #JoshuaNgannou now at https://t.co/FoiaUucafv pic.twitter.com/kL8RByqYzZ
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) February 21, 2024
“I would say that Francis came across a little more confident than AJ in this.
“AJ didn’t behave here the way he did before the Otto Wallin fight.
“The energy seems a bit different here.
“You do just wonder, will there be any hesitation in this fight from AJ? Because if there is, Francis Ngannou is not the man to be hesitant around.”
Joshua produced his best performance in years against Wallin last time out, dominating the Swede from the first bell before forcing him to retire in the corner after five rounds.
The boxing public seems to remain just unsure how much of a threat Ngannou poses to the former two-time heavyweight world champion, with some of the opinion suggesting he simply caught Fury on his worst possible night when he dropped him last year.
Regardless of his pugilistic credentials, the Cameroonian boasts herculean strength and formidable punching power, attributes that Joshua and his team will no doubt be factoring into their game plan.
With Turki Alalshikh having guaranteed a shot at the undisputed heavyweight world championship for the winner, the stakes, as they always seem to be when boxing takes place in Saudi Arabia, are stratospheric.
