Hasim Rahman has been speaking about a potential fight between Francis Ngannou and Deontay Wilder and has predicted an early knockout should the two ever meet.
51-year-old former two-time champion Raham had his fair share of knockouts during his career. He scored a famous one to get an upset victory over unified champion Lennox Lewis in 2001 and was then on the receiving end of one in the rematch a year later.
Now he’s cast his mind to a potential matchup between Ngannou and Wilder. The former has been catapulted into the heavyweight conversation after a superb showing against current WBC champion Tyson Fury over 10 rounds. His knockdown of The Gypsy King in the third round means plenty of other heavyweight contenders now see him as a viable opponent.
One man who’ss been linked with that fight is Deontay Wilder, who has fought just once in two years when he stopped Robert Helenius inside a round in October 2022.
Speaking to FightHype, Rahman gave his view on that potential match-up.
“If top 10 heavyweights do what they are supposed to do with him I think he can be swept under the rug. I feel like if he fought Wilder he’d get knocked out in a round or two, so styles make fights, and preparation matters.”
He then spoke on Tyson Fury’s showing against Ngannou.
“Tyson wasn’t necessarily prepared to the best of his ability. That Tyson Fury, he still showed up, he knew what was at stake. It wasn’t the best of him and now he got to live with his performance.”
This may remain a fantasy fight for now as Ngannou has said he is focused on a Fury rematch and Wilder is set to face Joseph Parker on a mega-card in Saudi Arabia this December.