Eddie Hearn predicts Anthony Joshua will demolish Francis Ngannou in a fight that will be a similar mismatch as AJ’s last fight against Otto Wallin.
Ngannou fought well against Tyson Fury, but it was the perfect opponent for him to excel against. The 35-year-old Fury can’t punch, and at this late stage of his career, he’s reduced to holding & leaning on his opponent. He’s old and carrying around a lot of excess fat.
Although Joshua is almost as old as Fury and past it, he can punch, and he’ll likely bomb Ngannou with power shots from the outside to bang him out when the two fight in March in Saudi Arabia.
The Greed vs. Glory
Hearn won’t have too many people disagreeing with him here because Joshua’s fight with Ngannou (0-1) is disturbing, showing that AJ is taking the easy path, focusing on greed to scoop up easy money facing a guy who has no business fighting the former two-time heavyweight champion.
Joshua-Ngannou wouldn’t be bad if it were an exhibition match, but not a sanctioned fight, with Ngannou getting an opportunity that should go to top-tier legitimate contenders like Zhilie Zhang, Filip Hrgovic, Jared Anderson, or Martin Bakole.
It’s pretty obvious that Hearn is keeping Joshua safe until he gets the payday fight against Fury in 2024. If Fury loses to Oleksandr Usyk, it wouldn’t be surprising if Joshua still faces him. It’ll be up to the Saudis, but they’ll likely see it Hearn’s way if he makes an argument for Joshua to still go ahead with the Fury fight, hoping that fans will still want to see it.
“Anthony Joshua just boxed Otto Wallin, who gave Tyson Fury a really tough time – the fight should’ve been stopped, Wallin should’ve won. AJ went out, and it was a mismatch; he demolished him. I believe he’s going to do the same here,” said Eddie Hearn to Ariel Helwani’s YouTube channel, talking about Anthony Joshua’s fight in March against boxing novice Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia.
Is Ngannou a Credible Opponent?
“That performance [by Otto Wallin] against Tyson Fury [in September 2019] is what made this fight [Joshua-Wallin] credible, and I felt he beat Tyson Fury. If he didn’t, it was a round either way,” said Hearn.
For the record, Fury beat Wallin by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision by the scores 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112. It wasn’t close. The only thing that made the fight suspenseful was the bad cut that Fury was fighting within.
“You can’t say that he’s [Ngannou] not a credible opponent. I heard Carl Froch say, ‘This is a cash grab.’ No, this is a dangerous fight. AJ has a lot to lose here,” said Hearn. “Coming off the Wallin fight, he’s [Joshua] in a wonderful position to go fight for the IBF world title, which we hope will happen after the Francis Ngannou fight.
Hearn sounds so disingenuous that you wonder whether he thinks the boxing public is a bunch of blithering idiots. Of course, Joshua vs. Ngannou is a money grab, and it’s one of the worst in memory.
Not only is Joshua fighting a novice with just one fight experience, but he’s also facing a guy coming off a loss. It doesn’t get any worse than that and shows clearly what Joshua’s priorities are right now.
Just get the money, keep winning long enough to get the pot of gold fighting the washed Fury, who has arguably been semi-retired since his only credible win on his career resume against Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
Both Fury & Joshua have been well-maneuvered their entire careers, moved around the risky opposition, and put in with guys that were always supposed to beat.
In the fights Joshua lost, they were against fighters he was supposed to beat. Andy Ruiz Jr. was a replacement opponent for Joshua, and Usyk was supposed to have been an easy win as well.
“There’s a lot of jeopardy in this fight. If you lose to Francis Ngannou, [it’s bad]. Francis Ngannou is 0-1. So, it’s not a good look losing to Francis Ngannou, so he’s going to do all that he can to avoid that,” said Hearn.
