After predicting he would lose against Otto Wallin, Teddy Atlas has now given his take on how Anthony Joshua’s next fight will go against Francis Ngannou.
Joshua impressed many in his last outing against the Swedish southpaw. He came out aggressively from the first bell, took centre ring and soon stamped his own authority on the fight.
It didn’t take long for him to break Wallis’s nose and put him in his shell, which led to his corner pulling him out between rounds fix and six.
Given how Wallin had seemingly given Tyson Fury such trouble back in 2019 when they fought, it was a fine result that elevated Joshua’s status back close to where it used to be before his defeats to pound-for-pound great Oleksandr Usyk.
Next up for the Brit is Ngannou over 10 rounds in Saudi Arabia, another former Fury foe he will be hoping to dismiss in impression fashion as a way of proving to the world he is ready for Fury himself.
Speaking on his own The Fight podcast ahead of the contest in March, Atlas laid out how the fight could go.
“You could look at it and say OK now forewarned and fore-prepared. He’s prepared mentally unlike Fury to take [Ngannou] serious, stay on the outside, counter punch and stay in control.
“He can show the difference between a polished boxer, a finished product, a guy who has had all kinds of amateur and pro experience up against a guy who doesn’t have that experience a boxing ring. It’ll wind up being a fight where he can win in a hands down way.”
However, he then sounded a note of caution about Joshua’s chin and Ngannou’s power.
“I’m not so quick to say that right now. Ngannou is a great athlete he is confident, he has the mental toughness and the belief in himself. Joshua is a guy some people think is a little chinny. We know Ngannou can punch. If he can put his hand on that chin, who knows?”
Ultimately he came down in support of Joshua.
“But you’d have to figure Joshua is a favourite.”
One man waiting in the wings for Joshua should he win is Zhilei Zhang who claims Eddie Hearn will ‘never’ let the fight happen.