Demetrious Johnson: Anthony Joshua can beat Francis Ngannou in MMA, too
Demetrious Johnson has made a bold claim in regards to Anthony Joshua’s chances vs. Francis Ngannou in MMA.
Ngannou (0-2) was knocked out cold in Round 2 of his boxing match against Joshua (28-3) Friday in the featured bout of Knockout Chaos at Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia.
Although he initially picked Ngannou to win, Johnson went as far as saying Joshua would get the best of the former UFC heavyweight champion in an MMA fight.
“Does Anthony Joshua beat Francis Ngannou in an MMA fight? I think he does,” Johnson said on his YouTube channel. “It would just be another striking match. AJ understands his distance. He understands the void. He has better hands than Francis, and he can make Francis even whiff and miss again. Unless Francis is going to change his tactic and go clinch him and wrestle him, (Joshua would win). But AJ is very athletic. He is smaller, he’s more limber. I think he’d be able to stuff the shot and be able to give it to Francis Ngannou.”
Johnson thinks if MMA fighters are going to continue to crossover to boxing, they need an adequate amount of time to prep.
“I’m not saying Francis has not taken it seriously,” Johnson said. “If I was to take a boxing match, I will probably spend eight months to a year preparing myself for the boxing match. Reason why is because the punches come faster. The movement is different. There’s only one weapon, and you only can use one weapon, right? I can’t use my kicks. I can’t use my knees. I can’t use my elbows. I can’t use my wrestling. How am I going to cross the void when I can’t use all the weapons I’ve been using for the last 18 years?
“Another thing that could have been Francis’ downfall was he had that boxing match with Tyson Fury. So Anthony Joshua got an opportunity to see Francis fight boxing. What he took from the boxing match on Francis vs. Tyson? He probably took, ‘OK, Francis doesn’t move his head. He doesn’t really move his head. He’s not very light on his feet,’ where Tyson Fury, he’s kind of light on his feet and Tyson’s trying to avoid the fight. This time, Anthony Joshua got right to work right off the bat, and that’s usually not a good sign if the other opponent doesn’t respond.”
For more on the fight, visit MMA Junkie’s hub for Joshua vs. Ngannou.