Ngannou takes on Joshua next week as he looks to record his first professional boxing victory, five months after almost beating Tyson Fury

Francis Ngannou has been given a long list of instructions as he prepares to take on Anthony Joshua next week.

Ngannou, who dropped Tyson Fury on his professional boxing debut last October before falling to a narrow split-decision after 10 rounds, goes into Friday’s clash as a significant underdog. Joshua has won his last three fights and knows victory could propel him into another world title fight.

One of those victories last year came against Jermain Franklin and the heavyweight has offered Ngannou some advice ahead of his second boxing bout. “Francis needs to do these five things,” he told Action Network. “1. He needs to come out fast and bully AJ, Joshua does not like to be bullied. 2. He must use his jab to set up his power, he cannot look for one shot to take him out. 3. Francis needs to stay patient and wait for the opening like he did with Fury. 4. He will need to take AJ’s power, and if he can do that, he has a major chance to win. 5. He must focus on working the body and using angles to counter AJ’s power.”

Joshua, meanwhile, will not simply bulldoze his way through Ngannou and must seek to wear out the mixed martial artist-turned-boxer before landing any knockout blow, according to promoter Eddie Hearn.

READ MORE ;Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou took on punch machine challenge to test elite heavyweight power

Ngannou may have lost the element of surprise after a staggering professional boxing debut last October when the former UFC heavyweight champion knocked down Tyson Fury before losing a debatable decision.

He will look to prove his performance was no fluke on March 8 against Joshua , who hopes to put himself in the shop window for a crack at British compatriot Fury or a trilogy meeting against Oleksandr Usyk.

“This isn’t going to be one hit on the chin, clearly he’s an immovable object with a fantastic chin and big, big, big power. You’ve got to be really smart in this fight – don’t get hit, break him down and hopefully he’ll go over like a big tower and we can just move on.”

Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou have both shown off their incredible punching power on the famous ‘punch machine challenge’ in recent years – but who came out on top?

Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou have both shown how strong they are by taking part in a fun punch machine challenge.

READ MORE ;Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou took on punch machine challenge to test elite heavyweight power

When boxers go on TV, they often have to try the ‘punch machine challenge’, especially if they are a big champion. ‘AJ’ was on the Graham Norton show in 2017 and took his suit jacket off before testing his strength.

Before him, actors Rachel Weisz, Martin Freeman and Greg Davies had a go and got scores of 182, 594 and 632 respectively. Then it was the turn of Joshua and with his right hand, he got a score of 848, which broke the old record of 787.

READ MORE: Anthony Joshua’s nerves are ‘very important’ to Francis Ngannou ahead of fight

 Anthony Joshua’s nerves are ‘very important’ to Francis Ngannou ahead of fight

More recently, Ngannou also tried a punch machine when he was in London, talking about his fight with Joshua. He didn’t use the same machine as Joshua, so we can’t say who is stronger from this. But when Ngannou hit the machine without even trying hard, he got the top score of 999. He put up a video of his amazing punch and asked: “Who can beat my score?”

In 2018, Ngannou set a world record for the strongest punch ever. He got a score of 129,161 units on a PowerKube, which checks how powerful a punch is by looking at how hard, accurate and fast it is.

“Francis Ngannou has the world record for the most powerful punch, his punch is the equivalent to 96 horsepower which is equal to getting hit by a Ford Escort going as fast as it can,” said UFC president Dana White. “And it’s more powerful than a 12-pound sledgehammer swung full force from overhead. Holy sh**!”

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But now, UFC middleweight Joe Pyfer has beaten that record with a huge punch that scored 170,218 units – that’s 31.7 per cent stronger than Ngannou’s punch. Boxing fans will see how Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou really compare on March 8, when they face off in the boxing ring.