Boxing
Coach warns of Francis Ngannou’s ‘life-changing’ power ahead of Anthony Joshua clash
Eric Nicksick fancies Francis Ngannou’s chances of landing something big on the former heavyweight champion of the world when they meet in Riyadh on March 8.
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by
Simon Head
Francis Ngannou gave the boxing world a small taste of his punch power when he faced Tyson Fury, but his coach warned that there’s more more on the way when “The Predator” takes on Anthony Joshua in his next bout.
“The Predator’s” display against “The Gypsy King,” including a third-round knockdown – with a glancing shot – of the lineal heavyweight world champion, sent reverberations around the boxing world, and set up the former UFC heavyweight champion for another huge matchup.
That bout was announced earlier this month, as Ngannou was booked to face former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, with the winner set to take on the winner of the upcoming bout between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.
Few thought Ngannou could perform as well as he did against Fury, who is renowned for being one of the best pure boxers in the heavyweight division, and the toughest heavyweight matchup for any of his peers. And Ngannou’s successes against Fury have many, including his head coach Eric Nicksick, eager to see what he might achieve against Joshua when they face off on March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Chatting to Jon Anik and Kenny Florian on the Anik & Florian Podcast, Nicksick said that Joshua will present a very different target to the one posed by Tyson Fury in Ngannou’s boxing debut.
“Stylistically, I feel like AJ is gonna be there,” he explained.
“It’s gonna be a fight where we don’t have to track this guy down the same way we had to with Tyson, where Tyson’s elusiveness in the cage cutoffs and all those things were a lot of our gameplan.”
And the Xtreme Couture head coach said that Joshua’s style may open up more opportunities for the former UFC heavyweight champion to showcase his prodigious punch power.
“This guy’s gonna be more ploddy and work behind his jab and be in front of us. So, you know, I feel like we’re gonna be able to hit this guy a little bit more. And, dude, when you get hit by Francis, we all know, man. It’s life-changing!”
A sports editor and MMA reporter with 25 years' experience in sports media, Simon has covered mixed martial arts since 2009 for a host of national and international outlets, including UFC, BBC Sport, MMA Junkie/USA Today, BT Sport and the Daily Mirror.