Joe Joyce, the man with arguably the best punch resistance in the heavyweights, has named one fighter whose power he was trying to ‘get away from’ in the gym.
‘The Juggernaut’ is riding a wave in the sport, coming off a career-best victory over Joseph Parker. Not only did he stop Parker for the first time in the New Zealander’s career, he showed how he can seemingly eat power punches for breakfast.
So who had the big man moving in the gym? Thankfully for Joyce – and perhaps the division as a whole – his sparring partner is currently reigning in another combat sport.
Francis Ngannou is the UFC Heavyweight Champion. He has a record of 17-3 in the sport with 12 knockouts, and is known for his powerful stand-up game over the likes of grappling.
Whilst training in the States, Joyce had the opportunity to spar Ngannou at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. He told Givemesport about the experience.
“I sparred Ngannou before the Dubois fight, he’s a big, powerful unit. It was a good experience to spar him. He’s a freak of nature. He’s got phenomenal power. Most of the time I was trying to get away from those power shots to avoid getting my head taken off.”
So it turns out the question of who has the power to stop ‘The Juggernaut’ has been answered by the man himself. Despite that, Joyce would be open to fighting Ngannou professionally if the opportunity arose – only in a boxing ring, though.
“I’d love to fight him though but let’s keep it simple with boxing. The UFC is too much, man. Credit to all those guys because they have to train so hard in all these different areas like they have to be so well-rounded in the kicking, the striking, the grappling and the submissions and all that so it’s a lot you have to train for.”
The MMA heavyweight from Cameroon has been rumoured to make the switch to boxing for a while now – a bout with WBC champion, Tyson Fury, being high on his list.
Whilst Ngannou would face moments of being outboxed if he did crossover, it’s hard to deny that his equalising power wouldn’t be intriguing as the rounds went on.