By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Former unified boxing heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua showcased one of his best performances as a professional boxer after knocking out former UFC champion Francis Ngannou during their bout on March 9, 2024, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Stepping in inside the loud arena in front of his fans, Joshua immediately turned on the jets after sizing up Ngannou with a couple of right jabs.
However, Ngannou looked comfortable against Joshua in the first few seconds of the opening round as he marched forward with a shuffle foot work and attempted to throw huge haymakers.
Little did Ngannou know that Joshua was prepared for the sequence and caught the former UFC king with a solid right hand to score the first knockdown of the fight.
Ngannou tried to claw his way back in the second round after reading Joshua’s movements while reserving his huge punches.
When Joshua moved forward to throw a right hand, Ngannou this time backpedaled and threw more counters but his punches went off the mark.
After 35 seconds past in the second round, Joshua found another opening after catching Ngannou off guard with a surging right flick punch to nab his second knockdown.
Ngannou beat the referee’s count and said that he was ready to get back but once the official countdown expired, Joshua sent in the final blow after connecting on a vicious right bomb to officially grab the win.
With the huge win, Joshua just extended his pro boxing winning streak to four straight matches and is still fresh from a clinic against Otto Wallin.
On the other hand, Ngannou, who entered the bout confident in beating Joshua, fell to 0-2 after dropping his debut fight against Tyson Fury several months ago.
