“I should be champion now,” Anthony Joshua believes Francis Ngannou beat Tyson Fury after knocking out ‘The Predator’

Anthony Joshua shocked the world with a spectacular knockout in his victory over Francis Ngannou. The two heavyweight boxers took on each other at the ‘Knockout Chaos’ main event fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Joshua was able to knock down Ngannou in the first round, but Francis Ngannou recovered. However, in the second round, Joshua was able to replicate the actions from round one and floor Ngannou once again. This time Ngannou seemed quite hurt, but he somehow managed to beat the referee’s countdown and approached Joshua in the ring. 

Subsequently, Joshua, sensing an opportunity to end the fight, feigned a jab to the body and went to the head with his right. The punch connected cleanly and knocked Ngannou out. This was the first time Ngannou was knocked out cold. Joshua has previously scored several knockouts, but fans did not anticipate such a brutal knockout, especially against Ngannou. This was mainly because of Ngannou’s performance against WBC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury. As such, during the post-fight press conference, Joshua stated:

Francis Ngannou beat the WBC heavyweight champion of the world; I should be the WBC champion of the world right now.

Anthony Joshua at the post-fight press conference

Joshua spoke about how tough ‘The Predator’ is as a fighter and expressed his respect for his opponent. In addition, the Brit acknowledged Ngannou by cheekily stating that he won his professional debut against Fury. The majority of combat sports fans also believe that Ngannou was robbed of his victory during that fight. 

Hence, Joshua validated Ngannou’s victory even though he controversially lost via split decision. Furthermore, Joshua claimed that he should currently be the WBC heavyweight champion since he defeated Ngannou, who had dominated Fury inside the ring. 

Anthony Joshua’s analysis and learning from the Ngannou fight

Ngannou went into his fight against Joshua, a former two-time unified heavyweight champion, with both ambition and hope. Subsequently, after his brilliant performance against Fury, many in the boxing world believed that Ngannou would pose a threat to Joshua. Instead, it was Joshua who completely surprised fans with an incredible performance.

Following his victory, Joshua revealed one of the most important lessons he learned from his fight with Ngannou. As such, the winner stated that he learned to always respect his opponent and the fact that losses don’t define you. He also preached restraint and humility in victory.

It should also be noted that after the fight, Joshua was grounded, showed a lot of sportsmanship, and won the hearts of a lot of people. Furthermore, Joshua urged Ngannou not to leave boxing because of his loss. 

In case you missed it!

• “Better stay five meters away from me!” Francis Ngannou silences Tyson Fury with ‘finger snap’ after BOLD warning to heavyweight champion

• “Trying to make excuse…” Francis Ngannou responds to Tyson Fury asking him to kiss his feet by giving a reality check

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