Former UFC champion Rashad Evans believes Francis Ngannou will continue to prove the doubters wrong ahead of his fight with Anthony Joshua.
The biggest surprise of 2023 in the world of combat sports was when UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou stepped into the ring to face one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all-time, Tyson Fury, to not only go 10 full rounds with the “Gypsy King”, but to knock him down! Though the “Predator” lost the fight on the judges’ scorecards, he won the respect of the entire boxing community for his efforts.
In an recent interview, former UFC champion and ESPN analyst, Rashad Evans, talked about a variety of topics, including his thoughts on Ngannou successfully jumping into boxing. After Ngannou shocked the world following his boxing debut, he is now in the driver’s seat of his career as he looks to make more noise in 2024.
Francis Ngannou boxing ‘champion’ prediction
Francis Ngannou faces Anthony Joshua in his next fight
Evans sees the special fighter that Ngannou is and won’t count him out versus Anthony Joshua, one of the elite heavyweight boxers. He believes that Ngannou will level another giant when he steps in the ring, and believes this will then earn him his opportunity to fight for boxing gold after obtaining an even higher world ranking.
“I mean, it’s hard for me to put anything past Francis, man. That performance and now he’s gonna be fighting Anthony Joshua. I mean, I think he’s gonna do it. I made a prediction at the end of [2023] and I said: ‘I think that Francis Ngannou is gonna be a heavyweight boxing champ by the end of the year’.”
“With [beating] Against Anthony Joshua. I feel [Ngannou] kind of forces Tyson Fury to take that step where he gambles the belt and Tyson Fury, provided he gets past [Oleksandr] Usyk, he’s gonna wanna take that gamble. He’s gonna wanna take that gamble. So he’s gonna show people because, to him, you can win a fight and have your hand raised, but inside, you know, when you really lost a fight, you know, and even though Tyson Fury won that fight. He knows. He knows.”
The epic heavyweight showdown takes place on March 8th in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In the co-main event, we get another big-time heavyweight clash between Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.
Francis Ngannou’s performance against Tyson Fury
Rashad Evans believes Tyson Fury is one of the greatest boxers ever
The combat sport veteran was impressed by what Ngannou showed in his first boxing match, especially with the caliber of heavyweight he believes Fury is:
“What Francis showed me in that fight with Tyson Fury is that no matter what your advantage or your perceived advantage can be, if he puts his mind to it, he could do it… [People] don’t really understand how huge that was for him to be able to do that. Not only is [Tyson Fury] the champion now, but honestly speaking, looking at skill for skill.
“I would say technically speaking, he’s one of the better heavyweights to ever do it. When you look at the speed, when you look at the footwork, when you look at everything that Tyson Fury brings, he’s a mix of a lot of different great boxers. He’s got a jab like Larry Holmes, he’s got movement like Muhammad Ali – at times, he’s got power like Mike Tyson, he’s a great combination of fighter.”