Francis Ngannou was crushed by Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia on Friday, brutally knocked out in the second round of his second professional boxing fight.
The former UFC heavyweight champion went down three times, including a brutal final right hand that ended it all, and it was a much different experience to last October when he faced Tyson Fury and lost a 10-round split decision.
“I’m sorry guys, I let you all down,” Ngannou said. “Today was a bad day at the office, but tomorrow will be a different day. Thanks for all the love.”
Ngannou is a likeable guy, at least when it comes to his boxing efforts. Confident, but not arrogant. He clearly took it seriously and tried to do his best. Delusional? Sure, but in some ways—not all—that’s a good, even necessary thing for any professional fighter to be. You have to believe you can win to have a chance.
Against Tyson Fury, who was treating this all as “a bit of fun” and clearly hadn’t trained much, Ngannou shocked the world even without a win. Not only was Fury out of shape and noticeably cushioned even for him – he wasn’t exactly a “lovely body” guy – but then he took a comically bad approach, trying to lean in and clinch with someone who, by pedigree, was significantly better than Fury at that sort of thing, not to mention the fact that Ngannou is much stronger physically.
Ngannou kind of bullied Fury and dropped him once. Judging by how boxing fights are actually scored, I thought Fury won, but it was one of the most uninspiring wins you’ll ever see. And the real winner was really Francis Ngannou, who shouldn’t have been able to compete with Tyson Fury like that.
On Friday, the chickens came home to roost against Anthony Joshua. To be fair, Joshua did what a decent world-class boxer should do against someone who is recent to the craft. Ngannou was actually doing well in the first round until an ill-advised switch to southpaw saw him slammed to the canvas in brief order.
Changing attitude is something that very few seasoned professionals can do well at the highest level; it’s very, very hard to do well. Ngannou’s attempt against Joshua is an example of the downside of the aforementioned necessary illusion. At best, he just didn’t understand that he wasn’t good enough to do it because no one showed him what a bad idea that was. AJ helped him figure that out quickly.
Ngannou never went back to being a southpaw, but he didn’t get many opportunities either. When he got knocked down in the first round, Joshua saw everything he wanted to see. He’s a three-belt heavyweight champion as a pro and an Olympic gold medalist 12 years ago. I tend to agree with John Fury that Joshua has learned on the job and gotten better at a lot of things over time, and the recent look he got in training camp over the last few years has also improved him.
In the second round, Joshua waited for his chance. He dropped Ngannou for the second time and realistically, referee Ricky Gonzalez could have stopped the fight at that point. When the action resumed, Ngannou sat idle and AJ didn’t cheat.
Right hand. Ballgame — on the way to pure devastation.
Photo: Richard Pelham/Getty Images
After the dust settled, Ngannou was being urged to continue his boxing career by Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs), but the 37-year-old is currently 0-2 and this kind of one-sided beating will significantly reduce his marketability as a professional boxer.
So should Ngannou keep boxing?
The brief answer is yes, at least if the money is there. He signed with MMA promotion PFL after a bitter split with UFC, but he hasn’t fought in the sport in more than two years, and at his age, such a long layoff from any competition risks seeing you come back, having lost “it” in the process.
But who would the money be against? If the Saudis – who don’t care about money like a typical fight promoter, because they have an infinite supply of it – pay for Ngannou vs. Deontay Wilder, there’s a monstrous plot there, even if Wilder is coming off a disastrous performance against Joseph Parker in December and has never been less attractive on the market. Again, it doesn’t matter to the Saudis any more than it does to Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren or someone who invests their own money, but it doesn’t matter either NO material. And if not Deontay, then who?
The difficult truth is that there are far more professional boxers than just the top names that Ngannou could get fired up against. When the idea of him taking up boxing was first floated a few years ago, he met with Eddie Hearn, who wanted to push him straight into a fight with Joshua. At the time, Joshua wasn’t interested in a “gimmick” fight.
The reason Hearn wanted to make the Joshua vs. Ngannou fight happen immediately was plain, and he admitted it openly: if Ngannou tried to “get his feet damp” by fighting some weaker professional boxer, he could simply lose and squander his chances of making a ton of money over the course of at least a single fight.
That’s true now. If Ngannou tries to fight anyone above the total score, to get one or two wins in the ring, he has a very high risk of just losing, and losing at a level far below Fury and Joshua. Someone like Michael Coffie or Faiga Opelu, not some top names or contenders, could just crush him. And then what?
Ngannou continuing to box in this manner carries a great risk, not only to his career in the sweet science, but to whatever is left of his MMA career. This loss, the manner in which it happened, will sting for some time. Ngannou is proud, and while rational logic says he has nothing to be ashamed of for the way his boxing “career” has turned out, rational logic is for those on the outside. He made it happen. The money will ease his part, but it is also on the verge of being significantly diminished, if not dried up, and at his age, time is running out for him to earn more in gigantic chunks.
The decision Ngannou makes about his future is crucial. And I’m still at least a little interested, because he’s easily made me a fan of both sports.
Following a recent interview with Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn in which he discusses his attempts to make Jaron Ennis a unification match against Brian Norman, Norman’s father releases a video message making it clear that they are not shying away from the fight. As Norman’s father says, they are actually interested in making this fight happen, and he believes there was a miscommunication.
“This is the latest on the Boots fighting situation on our side. I try to be as see-through as possible with Boots, Bozy and his team. I contacted him after Eddie Hearn did an interview.
“We immediately contacted Matchroom’s lawyers, the ones who sent the offer, and asked what does it mean that we rejected two offers? The Matchroom lawyer replies, “Oh, we didn’t realize you sent a counteroffer, which I find demanding to believe because how can you say we rejected anything, which means you never saw the response to your offer.
“The first offer was absurd, but the second one was close and we can work on it a bit. Anyway, we asked, “What’s your final offer?” Since then there has been no response, nothing.
“It’s been seven days since the first contract was sent, so I know they work on Saturdays, I know they work on Saturdays… With all due respect to Team Ennis, everyone with him, we have nothing but love for them, I hope people don’t believe that all this nonsense was rah-rah towards them, nothing like that… We want smoke in the ring, it has nothing to do with anything personal.
“Bozy didn’t turn down this fight, let me make that clear. Boots didn’t turn down the fight. I don’t think anyone is lying. I believe this is simply misinformation circulating. But at this point, it looks like it’s bullshit – at this point, because we’ve clearly turned around and said, “What’s your final offer?” and 24 hours passed, no one said a word.”
Following the recent official news of Shakur Stevenson signing with Matchroom, his promoter Eddie Hearn discusses his plans for Stevenson while touching on his ideas regarding Jaron Ennis and others. You can check out some excerpts from Hearn below, and the full video interview is at the top.
After signing Shakur Stevenson
“I really feel like I’ve been promoting Shakur Stevenson for years because I’ve been talking about him for years… I know my boxing and I know how good this kid is. He may be unbeatable, I know he’s a star who fights non-stop, there’s something about Shakur Stevenson’s mentality that makes me confident he’ll beat everyone.
“I think he has been hugely underrated. I think he should be not only an American superstar, but also a world star. I think he’s edgy, I think he’s got balls, I think he’s incredibly talented and I’ll do everything in my power to give him the platform and promotional push his skills deserve.
“For Shakur, the plan is for Joe Cordina to have two fights, and if he wins, a fight with Zepeda. And during this period we will show him our value. We will work closely together, Gervonta Davis, everyone. I hope these two fights will decide Shakur Stevenson’s career at Matchroom.”
About Stevenson’s fight with Cordina, which was not well received by fans
“I think it’s a really, really good fight… Stylistically, it’s a great fight for Joe Cordina and it’s actually a great fight for boxing. Two truly talented fighters. I think it will be a great fight and Shakur is a huge favorite for this fight, but Joe coming off the loss to Cacace and having the extra weight at lightweight, this is the right fight.
“It’s not witty, the last guy Shakur Stevenson boxed, Joe beat him easily, and probably the guys before that. So Joe is a earnest fighter…
“For me, we go with Joe Cordina, William Zepeda and Gervonta Davis. For me, once we do our job in these six months, Gervonta Davis vs. Shakur Stevenson will be the biggest fight in boxing. But we make our own moves. We’re not chasing Tank, we’re chasing greatness, but that comes with Tank because he’s an unbelievable fighter.”
About his plans for Jaron “Boots” Ennis
“That’s why we made offers to Brian Norman, the WBO champion; Barrios, WBC champion; and Stanionis, the WBA champion. They were all rejected. The one I think has legs – and I’ve seen him and his father in the last 24 hours – is Brian Norman, the WBO champion. We have already made two offers to Top Rank for Brian Norman, both of which were rejected pleasantly – I mean, we get on very well with Top Rank.
“Yesterday he posted a post in which he wrote: ‘we made a counter-offer.’ We did not receive any counter-offer. So Brian, if you want to make a counteroffer, hurry up and do it. But I want to fight this fight and if Brian Norman has the balls and if Brian Norman is real, Brian, if you’re real, let’s go. Let’s speed it up, let’s do this fight, because these are the fights we should be fighting.
“Brian Norman says Boots isn’t the boogeyman, he’s overrated. If you believe that, let’s end this fight. It’s a great fight between two brilliant American fighters.”
Shakur Stevenson is no longer a free agent, as Matchroom Boxing announced today that it has signed the WBC lightweight champion ahead of his title defense against Joe Cordina on October 12.
“I am ready to begin the next chapter of my career, which begins on October 12 with Joe Cordina on the season card in Riyad, Saudi Arabia,” Stevenson said.
“I made it clear that I wanted the biggest names and the biggest fights in the sport. Put William Zepeda on top in 2025 and I’ll be ready for anyone brave enough to step into the ring with me. In recent years, there have been few people willing to take up this challenge.
With Matchroom and Riyadh Season, I am joining forces with a promotional force that matches my world-class talent. We will be unstoppable in and out of the ring, and I will continue to demonstrate my dominance in boxing for many years to come.”
The press release did not specify how long their cooperation will last. Juliusz Julianis previously reported that Stevenson (22-0, 10 KO) was only going to stay with them for one fight, but it appears he will be working with Matchroom for the Zepeda fight as well. Considering how close Matchroom is to Golden Boy, this seems like the easiest way.
Earlier this year, the WBC announced that Zepeda would be a mandatory fighter, but according to Mike Coppinger, Zepeda wanted to delay it in preparation for the birth of his child.
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