Hasim Rahman is no stranger to upset having caused one of the sport’s biggest back when he was a world-level heavyweight and now he has predicted the outcome of the fight between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou.
Rahman was a huge 20-1 betting underdog when he took on the mighty Lennox Lewis in April 2001 but it was he who ran out the winner after he knocked Lewis out in the fifth round.
Former two-time world heavyweight champion Joshua will be the man many heavily favour to beat Ngannou when they square up in the ring out in Saudi Arabia on March 8.
Even though Ngannou is a huge puncher and has already reached the top of UFC with many of his own impressive knockouts, he has boxed professionally only once when he lost a split decision to Tyson Fury back in October.
Speaking to FightHype, Rahman was asked if he liked the fight.
“I think it’ll be a good fight while it lasts. I think Joshua will beat him. At this point, Ngannou is not unknown anymore. Now he’s a Top 10 contender, so Joshua has to train differently for him than Fury trained for him.
“Fury trained thinking he would knock him out, Joshua will train for a Top 10 contender so you will see a significantly different fight and I think Joshua will prevail.”
It was then put to Rahman that Joshua has improved in his fights over the last year.
“I think Joshua looked a lot better, and now he has a body of work to look at so he can prepare well for Ngannou. We know the guy is tough, he’s for real, he’s cracking, so it’s a little different. When you know what you’re going in there with, preparation is the key.”