As fight fans may have seen, Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou have gone head-to-head on the Sky Sports sit down face-off. And though both men were polite (Ngannou seemingly unable to stop himself from smiling), there were a few verbal barbs in there. The subject of ‘chin’ proved to be interesting when it came up.
As fans have probably read, man-mountain Ngannou says he plans on “finding out if he has a chin,” with the 0-1 boxer saying he has heard AJ “doesn’t have a chin.” And when looking directly at Joshua, who he will rumble with in Saudi Arabia on March 8, Ngannou said that he does not believe Joshua has as good a chin as Tyson Fury – the man Ngannou decked in his pro boxing debut back in October.
However, a cool and calm Joshua shot back by asking, “who hasn’t knocked Tyson down!” Joshua seemed to question Fury’s ability to take a good shot. But Ngannou says he is “100 percent” going to win by KO on March 8.
“Yeah, I have a doubt about that,” Ngannou said when asked if he feels AJ will be able to take the kind of punches he hit Fury with. “Tyson showed that he’s very resilient. I saw him come back from knockdowns that you wouldn’t believe. So I think he’s probably one of the most resistant person out there, and that’s not a disrespect to AJ. I don’t believe AJ would take what Tyson did.”
Then Joshua fired back, pointing out the fact that Fury has been dropped by numerous fighters.
“Who hasn’t knocked Tyson down? So many people have knocked Tyson down,” Joshua said. “People claim he’s the greatest of many, many generations, but I think if I box Tyson Fury a lot of similarities will happen in the fight, so I’m not surprised at all in terms of his [Ngannou] style, who Fury is, it’s just a boxing match. Well done to both of them, they put on an entertaining fight but that’s in the past.”
For the record, Fury has been knocked down at pro level by Neven Pajkic, Steve Cunningham, Deontay Wilder (X4), and Ngannou. But as we know, Fury got back up to win each time (or get a draw in the case of the first Wilder fight). Who has the better chin – Fury or Joshua?
This may or may not prove relevant on the night of March 8, but Ngannou is not trying to keep the fact that he will be trying to take AJ out a secret. Indeed, this seems to be Ngannou’s only way of winning, Joshua being the far more experienced, accomplished boxer. But will Ngannou be able to find Joshua’s chin, and if he does, will AJ’s chin be able to withstand the force?
It’s a quite fascinating fight, and a pretty good case can be made for either man winning. Was Fury simply out of shape when he faced Ngannou and did this allow Ngannou to look better than he actually is? This is another big question fans are asking as we approach March 8.
Ngannou, though, is certain he will beat Joshua. And Ngannou smiles each time he tells us, and his opponent, what he’s going to do next month.