Heavyweight title hopeful Joe Joyce has looked ahead to tonight’s crossover showdown between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou with a sense of intrigue, believing an upset could be on the cards.
Joyce was poised for a shot at the world title himself until two consecutive knockout defeats to Zhilei Zhang during 2023, freezing him out of the title picture all together, to the point where he is not ranked in the top ten with any of the sanctioning bodies.
Now the Joshua-Ngannou victor is expected to challenge for the belts and speaking to OLBG, Joyce admitted that his money is on the underdog.
“I’m doubtful they’ll meet in the centre of the ring, I imagine Joshua will play it safe. Joshua can hit hard but if he fights fire with fire and he could get caught in the flames.. He needs to be careful and get his shots off too. Francis can test AJ’s chin.
“AJ’s shown he hasn’t got the best chin, he’s shown he’s a bit of a glass cannon. He has explosive power but also he’s quite fragile. But how can I talk? I’ve just been knocked out, so I can’t talk.
“But look at what Ngannou did against Fury, he knocked him down and arguably won the fight, and he could do the same to Joshua. He needs to because Ngannou isn’t going to get the decision.
“If Francis lands a big bomb on Joshua’s chin, Joshua’s going down. Equally, Joshua’s got power and if he can put them punches together and use his experience, probably keep it a lot more long range, I can see why some are making him the favourite.
“If the odds are good for a Francis knockout, I’m putting my money on that. It’s a 50-50 fight. I’ll say Joshua on points or Ngannou for the upset by KO.”