Francis Ngannou has a unique perspective on the Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury fight, having shared the ring with both men within a year. And despite being knocked out by Joshua in two rounds while going the distance and dropping Fury, Ngannou is still picking the Manchester fighter to come out on top.
The former UFC and PFL heavyweight champion shared his prediction in a recent interview with The Schmo, explaining that Fury’s technical boxing skills give him a slight edge over Joshua, even factoring in what Ngannou himself experienced against each man.
“If I have to favor somebody it’s going to be very slight. I will go for Fury, because he is very slick. He does well with professional boxing, he only doesn’t understand when it’s not a pro boxer.”
Ngannou attributed his own success against Fury in part to the unorthodox nature of his MMA training, suggesting the movement and style he brought to that fight posed problems Fury was simply not accustomed to solving. Joshua, by contrast, is a conventional heavyweight boxer, which plays more into Fury’s strengths.
The fight was announced on Monday after years of negotiations between the two British heavyweights, with the bout set for later this year on Netflix. Joshua is expected to make it through a tune-up fight in Riyadh this summer before the two finally meet. The pair have been rivals for well over a decade and shared a sparring session in their younger days, but have never met in an official professional bout.
Ngannou returns to the cage on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood against Philipe Lins on the first ever MVP MMA card on Netflix.