How To Silence A Lousy Illiterate: Joshua Vs Ngannou
By Kunle Awosiyan
The commentator noticed from the start that the match might end earlier. This was due to amateurish technique of Francis Ngannou.
His hands positioning against a highly technical Anthony Joshua was awful. The Cameroonian was throwing hands and opening up himself against the Briton, Anthony Joshua.
Ngannou was reckless in his approach and quickly made mess of himself in Saudi Arabia early this morning. He failed to build on his previous performance against Tyson Fury.What I saw this morning was a buffalo against a Lion. The brave Buffalo, Ngannou ended up as a prey in Joshua, Lion’s paws.
I saw anger in the face of Anthony Joshua and I also sensed calmness . I saw a more disciplined and mature boxer. I saw a potential three-time heavyweight champion in the nearest future.
Joshua had not come to announce himself, he came to return Ngannou to his place, UFC. The Briton had a gameplan and it was to erase the Cameroonian quickly and perhaps to damage him and tell him about boxing.
He did it in style, in two rounds as he made Ngannou to hate boxing afterwards. After the Cameroonian saw the first blow like lightning, his face changed right on the canvas, his countenance also changed, for the first time he tasted real boxing.
However Joshua did not allow him to think further, he finished the job with the second devastating blow that crashed Ngannou for the third time in five minutes.
It took the Cameroonian five minutes on the floor and would only rise after medical attention. That was the meaning of heavyweight. Boxing is not about bodybuilding but techniques.
On getting up Ngannou, held AJ and said “bro, I quit” (I’m quitting boxing) AJ replied “No, you have to box, don’t give up”.
I once wrote that Ngannou’s Fury test was not the real deal for the Cameroonian, that the former UFC champion would need to learn the ropes to become a proper boxer.
A boxer works more on his hands and brain more than his body unlike an MMA professional who combines wrestling and kickboxing to fight his opponent.
Punching a bag over a long time naturally gathers weight on the fist. An MMA fighter challenging a professional boxer and using the fists, the only weapon, will be embarking on a suicide mission. That was what happened to Ngannou earlier this morning.
Having made about $20 million from this fight, I advise Ngannou to go back to MMA or else he will remain in boxing as a punching bag.
Congratulations to Joshua.
