By Norm Frauenheim –
Francis Ngannou is no ordinary novice.
He’s been called one simply because of the numbers in his resume. They don’t add up to anything that would suggest he’s a champion, contender or journeyman
He’s a one-time heavyweight boxer. His heavyweight career is 10 rounds long. It’s the equivalent of a postage stamp on other heavyweight resumes.
Yet, it delivered a message, one that has made the top of boxing’s old flagship division very uncomfortable. Ngannou crashed the party in October, sending its lineal king tumbling onto the canvas like some eroding edifice.
Tyson Fury won a split decision in Saudi Arabia, but the scorecards’ inherent controversy has lingered with questions about the state of today’s heavyweight game.
It’s a question, one of many, seeking an answer Friday (main event at 6 pm ET/3 pm PT/DAZN PPV) when Ngannou enters the ring for the second time in his heavyweight boxing career against former champion and presumed Fury rival Anthony Joshua, also in Riyadh.
From personal reputations to promotional plans, the stakes are enormous, unprecedented for anything attached to a so-called novice.
Let’s start with the promotional plans. It was announced Wednesday that Queensberry Promotions wants the winner of Ngannou-Joshua to fight the winner of the rescheduled bout on May 18 between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
“There’s a lot on the line,’’ Fury said, stating the obvious.
The heavyweights, at least on the UK side of the division, have been waiting for a decisive Fury-Joshua confrontation for years. Few even knew Ngannou’s name when that wait began.
But here he is, a 37-year-old boxing novice and a Mixed Martial Arts veteran with the power to make everyone wonder why – why-oh-why — they waited.
“if in the coming months both Fury and Joshua win, it is on to the dream matchup in Wembley Stadium British boxing fans have dreamed of for years,” says Jim Lampley, HBO’s former ringside journalist who will co-host, real time, a live-stream chat for PPV.COM Friday. “If Usyk and Ngannou win, that is forgotten, and we keep moving into the brave new combat world.’’
The idea, at least from the UK perspective, is for Joshua to prove that Ngannou was simply an aberration last October.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Joshua looks as if he has restored his confidence. That was evident in his solid fifth-round TKO of Otto Wallin in December. Wallin is skillful, but don’t confuse him with Ngannou. He’s imposing, dangerous. This novice is a Goliath.
The guess is that Ngannou doesn’t have the endurance or the skillset to endure 10 rounds. Joshua has an Olympic pedigree and a gold medal. But he also has a history of retreating after he gets hit by bigtime power.
That’s been the story line since he was knocked down by a huge shot from Wladimir Klitchsko in April 2017. Joshua went on to win an 11th-round TKO. But the Klitschko knockdown seemed to replace the confidence with over abundant caution. He became beatable.
Ngannou is nothing if not powerful. Here’s another question: What happens to Joshua if he gets rocked by the kind of Ngannou shot that dropped Fury?
A Joshua advantage is that he knows all about Ngannou’s head-turning power. Against Fury, Ngannou delivered a timely alert, says Lampley in a pre-fight analysis.
“With his very near miss against Fury, Ngannou has supplied Joshua with a potentially vital wake-up call, a useful scouting report, and massive motivation to gain public-relations ground by indirectly embarrassing Fury.’’
Lampley has some advice for each corner.
For Joshua: “Make sure the boxing match is a BOXING match. Use your jab, stay out of clinches, don’t get into a wrestling match against the rarity of a larger, stronger man,’’ Lampley says to an ex-champ with plenty to lose
For Ngannou: “Shoot the moon. Take risks, swing big when you see the target, maybe this time the knockdown will stick,’’ he says to a novice with little to lose.
Novices never do
