Francis Ngannou is a heavyweight in demand following his showing against Tyson Fury, and may have just landed himself a bout with Anthony Joshua.
The 37-year-old former UFC champion was given little to no chance in the crossover bout, but flipped the script and knocked Fury down on the way to a split decision loss.
Now he has been approached by the teams of both Joshua and Deontay Wilder for his second pro bout.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, former super-middleweight world champion Carl Froch said that a match-up with ‘AJ’ was ‘interesting,’ but that neither man is ready for it.
“The Anthony Joshua-Ngannou fight is interesting – something I’d want to watch. But I don’t think he’s ready for it yet. One I don’t think AJ’s ready for it yet. He might go in there, outbox him and beat him because he’s an Olympic Champion, he’s showed us time and time again how good he is, but since the Ruiz fight we’ve got question marks over his mentality.
Ngannou I think needs to be given the opportunity to go in there with Fury again. If Fury jumps in straight with Usyk – a fight I want to see – there’s too many question marks over his fight with Ngannou.”
As for a prediction, Froch backed his countryman to get the win.
“I’d have to pick AJ to beat Ngannou. Ngannou would be making his second professional boxing match, and Anthony Joshua’s a tidy, quality fighter.”
Despite further analysis leading him to call it much closer, he stuck by his pick of a Joshua victory.
“But there’s that mindset there that if he goes in thinking ‘bloody hell he’s gone ten rounds with Tyson Fury and a lot of people think he’s won’ …. If AJ’s head’s not right, and think his last two or three fights will get his head right for the Ngannou fight, for me it’s a 50/50 match.
I’d like to say Anthony Joshua beats Ngannou, but to be honest, the closer that draws in, Ngannou gets more sparring, the confidence of the Fury fight. Who knows, it could go either way. But Anthony Joshua beats Ngannou, I’ll say it, for the sake of professional boxing.”
Neither man has their next fight set in stone, and plenty of moving parts on the heavyweight scene could just see this take place sooner rather than later.