Anthony Joshua produced a devastating early knockout of Francis Ngannou to send a shuddering message to the likes of rivals Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk in the heavyweight division.
After an initially confident start from Ngannou on only his second professional boxing outing after he shocked the world by flooring Fury in October before dropping a controversial decision, the former UFC heavyweight champion was sent to the canvas in the first round after a punishing right hand from Joshua in Friday night’s huge main event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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The two-time former unified heavyweight champion then knocked down Ngannou again with another powerful right in the second round, his opponent – who had been showing flashes of intent and trying to hold the centre of the ring – just beating the referee’s count before quickly being knocked out cold by a brutal overhand right in one of the most destructive stoppages seen in recent times – more than living up the ‘Knockout Chaos’ moniker for the event.
Ngannou was quickly attended to after such a damaging finish, receiving oxygen as he was helped onto a stool before thankfully getting to his feet and embracing Joshua, who again reiterated his desire to meet the winner of the undisputed showdown between reigning heavyweight champions Usyk and Fury, rescheduled for May 18 in Riyadh after a nasty cut sustained by Fury in sparring led to the postponement of their initial February date.
However, both Usyk – who has already beaten Joshua twice – and Fury have rematch clauses in their contracts, so it’ll be a while yet until a meeting with Joshua can happen for either man.
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Those rematch clauses also mean that the winner of the first Usyk-Fury fight will likely have to vacate the IBF title instead of facing mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic.
Joshua to face unbeaten Croatian contender Hrgovic for the IBF gold – the first world title Joshua ever won by knocking out American Charles Martin at London’s O2 Arena in 2016 – could feasibly be a possibility for the 2012 Olympic gold medalist later this year.
