Anthony Joshua sent out a huge statement to the heavyweight division as he viciously knocked out Francis Ngannou in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It didn’t take ‘AJ’ long to show his power, dropping Ngannou in round one with a powerful jab after Ngannou briefly chose to go southpaw.
The former UFC heavyweight champion recovered and made it through the round, but Joshua continued to dominate and earned another knockdown in round two.
Ngannou got up but was clearly dazed, and ‘AJ’ then unleashed a dynamite right hand moments later which knocked Ngannou out cold and earned Joshua the win.
The victory for ‘AJ’ potentially sets up a fight against the winner of Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk, and he is ready for that next.
“I’m here to fight. I’ll go back to my cage, when it’s time to fight again I’ll be ready. Yes it is [The winner of Fury vs. Usyk next].
“When I saw the fight between Ngannou and Fury I thought ‘damn he can fight.’ He was an inspiration and a great champion. It doesn’t take away any from his capabilities, he can come again.”
Elsewhere, Joseph Parker won the interim WBO heavyweight title after beating Zhilei Zhang by majority decision, while Rey Vargas and Nick Ball drew for the WBC featherweight title, and Israil Madrimov won the WBA super-welterweight title against Magomed Kurbanov.