Anthony Joshua’s trainer, Ben Davison, is impressed with the work that he’s putting in to prepare for his 10-round fight next month against Francis Ngannou on March 8th at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ben believes Joshua will shine like a diamond when he gets in the ring with the powerful 270+ lb Ngannou in their headliner. He’d better hope AJ shines, considering he’ll miss out on a boatload of money fighting the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk winner.
Will Joshua Crumble Under Ngannou’s Power?
Davison is pleased with the “professionalism” the former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) is showing because he’s got a tough fight ahead of him facing former UFC champion Ngannou (0-1).
The shots that Ngannou nailed Tyson Fury last October could be enough to reduce the fragile-chinned Joshua to rubble if he connects with the same shots. Joshua’s punch resistance is nowhere to be found, and might just take one or two good shots from Ngannou to upend him, wrecking promoter Eddie Hearn’s dreams of a Fury clash.
Fury, 35, made it easy for Ngannou to land his punches on him by trying to mug him on the inside, which was foolish to do against the powerful former MMA champion.
Joshua will likely play it safe, falling back on the Wladimir Klitschko style that he used safely to outbox an out-of-shape 283-lb Andy Ruiz Jr. in their rematch in December 2019.
But even with that style, Joshua could have been in trouble if Ruiz hadn’t slacked off during training camp, eating his way into obesity after scoring a seventh-round knockout win over AJ in their previous fight in June of that year.
The Ngannou Challenge
“Really good, a really good spot. He’s a real pleasure to work with, and I think the future stars we have in the gym are really benefiting from him being in the gym in the sense of his professionalism and attitude towards training and coaching, work ethic, and all the rest of it,” said trainer Ben Davison to Boxing News about his training camp with Anthony Joshua ahead of next month’s fight against Francis Ngannou on March 8th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Look, he’s proven it time and time again at the highest level. I’m sure he’ll do it again,” said Davison about Joshua.
