Two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has taunted Tyson Fury and played down Francis Ngannou’s achievement of dropping his fellow countryman, as he prepares to go one better than Fury and stop the former UFC superstar.
Ngannou dropped Tyson Fury on his professional boxing debut in the most shocking moment of boxing in 2023, but ultimately lost a split-decision to ‘The Gypsy King’, coming so close yet so far to pulling off arguably the greatest upset in the history of the sport.
As a result of his strong performance against Fury, Ngannou has now landed another super-fight despite his 0-1 record, taking on another British heavyweight sensation Anthony Joshua, in just over two weeks’ time.
However, in the DAZN face-off ahead of their battle, Joshua dismissed Ngannou’s jaw-dropping knockdown, whilst responding to the Cameroonian’s belief that he will not be able to recover as well as Fury did if he too hits the canvas.
Ngannou – “Yeah, I have a doubt about that [whether Joshua would get up from same punch Tyson got]. Tyson showed that he is very resilient, I saw him come back from knockdown that you wouldn’t believe [against Deontay Wilder].
“He is probably one of the most resilient people out there and this is not a disrespect to AJ, but I don’t believe that AJ would have taken what Tyson took.”
Joshua – “Who hasn’t knocked Tyson down? So many people have knocked Tyson down.”
When Fury hit the deck against Ngannou, it was the seventh time that he had done so during his sixteen-year career, after being dropped by Neven Paikich, Steve Cunningham and Deontay Wilder (x4).