Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou: Early Head-to-Toe Breakdown

Raise your hand if you saw this coming.

When ex-UFC menace Francis Ngannou signed to box Tyson Fury a few months back, most forecasted a high-profile money grab in which the ring newbie would be exposed.

And nearly no one expected Ngannou to have enough competitive momentum coming out to warrant a bout with another (former, in this case) heavyweight champion.

But that's exactly what he's got.

Promoter Eddie Hearn took to the platform formerly known as Twitter to confirm that his most recognizable client, Anthony Joshua, will meet Ngannou in a boxing match that'll once again take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia—where Ngannou met Fury in October.

Multiple outlets have reported that the bout will be a 10-rounder and occur in early March.

Hearn's announcement set B/R's combat team into motion to compile a head-to-toe breakdown of the combatants and how things are likely to look come late winter.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the comments.

What: Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou

Where: Site TBA, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

When: March 9

TV: TBA

What's at Stake: A lot. And that's an understatement.

Ngannou parlayed his shockingly sound performance against Fury, in which he decked the consensus champion and pushed him to a split decision, into a No. 10 ranking by the World Boxing Council—whose belt Fury holds—and acclaim as a legitimate title threat.

Turning in a similar effort against Joshua would ensure at least another bite at the financial apple (Deontay Wilder, anyone?) while a victory over the two-time champ would make him a popular choice for the winner of February's undisputed match between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk or perhaps a vacant belt if one of the sanctioning bodies pulls its recognition.

Joshua has a similar career path if he beats Ngannou impressively, while a loss, considering he's already dropped three of his last eight fights, could be a devastating career blow.

Nickname: AJ

Record: 27-3, 24 KOs

Height: 6'6"

Weight: 251 pounds*

Reach: 82"

Age: 34

Stance: Orthodox

Rounds: 160

All stats courtesy of BoxRec.

*Official weight at last fight in December 2023.

Nickname: The Predator

Record: 0-1, 0 KOs

Height: 6'4"

Weight: 272 pounds*

Reach: 83"

Age: 37

Stance: Orthodox

Rounds: 10

All stats courtesy of BoxRec.

*Official weight at last fight in October 2023.

Joshua's style has been a work in progress over the years thanks to a series of trainers since he began a stretch of three losses in five fights with a KO by Andy Ruiz in 2019.

Rob McCracken, Robert Garcia, Derrick James and Ben Davison have worked with the now-34-year-old in the last five years, with Davison manning the corner for Joshua's fifth-round blowout of Otto Wallin in the headliner of a pre-Christmas show in Saudi Arabia.

Joshua fought off the front foot, worked the body and threw powerful combinations against the comparatively limited Swede, appearing far more aggressive than in any fight since beating Ruiz in a rematch with a cautious, safety first approach.

He was confounded in subsequent fights by the smaller and sublimely skilled Usyk, though, and, prior to beating Wallin, hadn't looked wholly confident in a ring since a 2018 thrashing of ex-Olympic champ Alexander Povetkin.

It'll be interesting to see if he maintains the Wallin persona against Ngannou, who'll surely present a bigger threat of return fire after a UFC run in which he KO'd 10 opponents and the Fury fight in which he landed 37 power shots and dropped the champ with a left hand.

The Cameroonian succeeded thanks more to ferocity than finesse, though, so if the taller and fundamentally sounder Joshua chooses to revert to hunting and pecking from distance, it's no stretch to suggest he's got the skill set to win that way.

Advantage: Joshua

Make no mistake, Joshua is a powerful man.

He's KO'd all but three of his professional victims in the ring and earned Fight of the Year plaudits for a 2017 stoppage of Wladimir Klitschko in which he snapped the ex-champ's head back with a particularly brutal right uppercut in a decisive 11th round.

So he won't be completely out of his element if the fight with Ngannou turns into a "who can beat up who" sort of exchange.

But you've got to believe that such an event would benefit Ngannou.

His KO of Alistair Overeem at UFC 218 remains the stuff of YouTube legend nearly 80 octagonal pay-per-views later, and cage boss Dana White lauded Ngannou's menace leading into the first of two bouts with Stipe Miocic in 2018.

"His punches are equivalent to 96 horsepower," White said.

"That's equal to getting hit by a Ford Escort going as fast as it can and it's more powerful than a 12-pound sledgehammer from full-force overhead. Holy s--t."

Fury was able to rise from the shot that floored him in the third round and survived the rest of the way, but Joshua's resilience has never been his strong suit and a firefight with Ngannou doesn't figure to be a situation he'd relish.

Advantage: Ngannou

If you're looking for a fight that pits the shoulder roll of Floyd Mayweather Jr. against the angles of Pernell Whitaker, save your money.

This won't be it.

Ngannou's defense against Fury was about what you'd see in a decent fight gym but he did consistently press forward and he handled himself particularly well on the inside, where clinch skills honed in the UFC were put to good use. He may have had a harder time if Fury had been busier, but the threat of his power was enough to throttle Fury's work rate.

Joshua is no one's master either but he's shown the aforementioned ability to win a fight from distance, which means a passive offense could be his best defense.

The Joshua of 2018 would have been as big a favorite going in against Ngannou as Fury had been thanks to a propensity for fireworks, but the version that seeks victory by avoiding exchanges remains vulnerable in spite of a less violent approach.

Still, if there's got to be a check mark for defense, the Brit gets it.

Advantage: Joshua

Ngannou's X-Factor: Was He That Good or Was Fury That Bad?

Ngannou is still all the things we said going in to the last one.

A physical phenomenon. Dangerously powerful to the extent that he can render a man, pretty much any man, semi-conscious with a single punch.

He won a handful of rounds against a reigning heavyweight champion and dropped that champion with what amounted to a glancing blow to the side of the head.

But upon further review, no one suggests it was anything resembling the "real" Fury.

So now that the world knows Ngannou is a commodity to be properly prepared for, what'll happen if a world-class operator like Joshua arrives in prime fighting condition?

That'll be a significant hook for viewers come March.

Joshua's X-Factor: Will the Real 'AJ' Please Stand Up?

As we said earlier, the Joshua of five or six years ago—specifically, the Joshua who handled Klitschko and Povetkin—would have been a smart money pick to blow Ngannou away.

He was big and strong and aggressive and confident and appeared for a while as if he'd be the British export who'd dominate the heavyweight division into the 2020s.

Until he wasn't.

The scars from the Ruiz loss still haven't healed and the Joshua who looks to survive fights rather than seizing them isn't nearly the phenomenon he'd been.

That might not keep him from jabbing and grabbing his way to a sleepy win in the Saudi desert, but it makes him appear more fragile and fuels the perception that Ngannou can dent the psyche.

One way or the other, it sets up as a legit career definer for him.