Francis Ngannou started his boxing profession with a formidable loss to Tyson Fury. He adopted it up with an unimpressive one to Anthony Joshua.
The UFC heavyweight champion-turned-boxer fell through a vicious second-round KO to former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, who scored his fourth straight win since shedding his titles to Oleksandr Usyk.
The struggle went fantastic for Ngannou for a pair minutes, however a swap to southpaw opened him up for a knockdown through a tough proper from Joshua. Despite the fact that Ngannou had little bother getting up, the tone was set for the quick the rest of the struggle.
The momentum was firmly Joshua’s at first of the second spherical, with Ngannou biting on each feint and never displaying the facility that made him a star within the MMA world. Joshua bought his second knockdown after a couple of minutes, then knocked the Cameroonian underdog out chilly with a little bit over 30 seconds remaining.
Ngannou wanted a couple of minutes to get again up, then obtained oxygen as he awaited the official announcement on his stool.
It was the sort of domination many individuals anticipated when Ngannou first confronted Fury. Ngannou arrived within the sport as one among too many UFC fighters searching for a greater payday, however quieted all doubters with a 10-round efficiency that noticed him drop the WBC champ and win the struggle on one choose’s scorecard. It was spectacular sufficient that he bought Joshua for his second struggle, however that wound up being greater than he may chew.
Ngannou’s boxing report now sits at 0-2 and it is unclear the place he goes from right here. He nonetheless has an MMA profession at PFL, however his boxing future would require some calculation on find out how to steadiness the standard of his subsequent opponent. He is obtained the sort of alternatives the overwhelming majority of boxers solely dream of and there is not any disgrace in shedding to champions, however he’ll want a win sooner or later.
As for Joshua, he and his promoter Eddie Hearn made clear he was gunning for an additional title shot towards the winner of Fury vs. Usyk on Might 18. Ngannou is not precisely the sort of opponent to maneuver you up the heavyweight ladder, but it surely’s fairly controversial Joshua was already there.