Despite a remarkable debut in which he dropped Tyson Fury and pushed the unbeaten WBC and lineal heavyweight champion to the wire before losing a split decision, Carl Froch feels that Francis Ngannou needs to prove himself all over again when he takes on Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia later this year.
As good as the former UFC heavyweight champion was against Fury in October, he will have a couple of different hurdles to overcome when he faces Joshua.
The Cameroonian’s raw power earned him his opportunity but he still carried an air of mystery into his fight with Fury and surprised pretty much everybody with his technical ability and fitness.
That element of surprise has now gone.
Unlike Fury, Joshua is also highly unlikely to turn up in Saudi Arabia in anything less than perfect condition. The two-time unified heavyweight champion is rolling into the fight on the back of his best performance in some time. He outboxed and beat up Otto Wallin on December 23rd, forcing the tough Swede to stay on his stool after five painful rounds.
Given his performance against Fury, Froch refuses to write Ngannou off but does wonder if ‘The Gypsy King’s’ poor showing may have flattered him slightly. He expects Joshua to provide him with a much sterner test of his boxing abilities.
“Who would have thought? My initial thoughts are it’s not a bad fight. It’s a fight that Anthony Joshua could potentially struggle with. We saw him [Ngannou] against Tyson Fury and Tyson Fury struggled but was that because Ngannou was really good or was that because Fury didn’t quite turn up? He wasn’t at the races. I think the latter,” the former super middleweight world champion and Hall of Fame inductee said on Froch on Fighting.
“Fury wasn’t at his best. He didn’t perform that well but Ngannou was tidy. He had good distance and timing. He threw a good jab, he was looking for that left hook and he is a fighter, but obviously in the Mixed Martial Arts world. He’s not a professional boxer so it was his pro debut. Tyson Fury wasn’t at his best but Ngannou comes away with a lot of credit from that fight.
“Tyson Fury is a good fighter by default so if Fury turns up out of shape, unfit, mentally not switched on he’ll still be able to perform and still be able to do well against somebody like Ngannou so I suppose we’re going to find out how how good Ngannou is when he fights AJ.”
Froch was renowned for his willingness to fight the toughest opposition available and although he can’t wait to watch a fight which almost guarantees fireworks, in an ideal world he would prefer to see Joshua taking on proven, established heavyweights.
“It’s not a bad fight. They’re both big and strong and can punch so it’s a fight I’m looking forward to if I’m totally honest,” he said. “It’s a fight I could get excited about, I’m just not sure it should be happening because Anthony Joshua wants to become a three-time heavyweight champion but where’s the title? The [Filip] Hrgovic fight is big. That’d probably be for the IBF title if that becomes vacant. That’s a fight we’ve been talking about. The Zhilei Zhang fight. That’s a great fight I want to see Anthony Joshua in. We’re getting further and further away from these fights potentially happening if he jumps in there with Ngannou.”