Dave Coldwell believes powerful Francis Ngannou could floor Anthony Joshua
Esteemed trainer and boxing pundit Dave Coldwell has run his thoughts over the fight between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou and says the latter has ‘got enough power to drop AJ.’
This is an intriguing matchup between two huge hitting big men. Joshua is a former two-time world heavyweight champion while Ngannou has conquered UFC and reigned supreme as champion in the same division in MMA.
In 2023, Joshua got back to winning ways with a points win over Jermaine Franklin, and then followed two destructive knockout wins over Robert Helenius (KO7) and Otto Wallin (RTD5).
Ngannou, meanwhile, made his spectacular boxing debut in October in Saudi Arabia, impressing many onlookers with the way he was able to push the WBC Champion Tyson Fury hard over 10 rounds, and even scored a knockdown in the third that left many thinking he should have won the contest.
Now, top trainer Coldwell has been speaking to Boxing Social about the fight and was asked whether it was a potential banana skin for the Brit.
“Yeah, definitely, listen, I believe that no matter what Fury says he thought it was going to be an easy fight for him. I saw the clip of Ngannou with Tyson on the pads and thought oh my god.
“I thought Fury could sit on the ropes and take the piss. Come fight night, the minute Ngannou shaped up, I thought hang on a minute, it’s going to be a different fight. If Ngannou has the power to drop Fury, he can drop Joshua, simple as that. If he can box Fury and make him feel uncomfortable, surely he can do that to AJ as well.”
He then pointed out that there is no element of surprise with Ngannou now as there was in his debut.
“Now [Joshua’s team] has 10 rounds of boxing footage to look at and dissect. Joshua hasn’t got the element of surprise he’s walking into where Fury did. AJ will be razor sharp mentally, so I think Joshua should beat him cause of his pedigree, look at who he’s fought and who he has beaten.”