When Eddie Hearn recently declared Anthony Joshua several levels above Francis Ngannou, the big British superstar’s promoter didn’t intend to dismiss the literal puncher’s chance Ngannou has to upset Joshua.

Hearn unequivocally believes Joshua will win their 10-round fight in whichever way the former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion sees fit March 8 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Matchroom Boxing’s chairman does realize, though, that Ngannou’s undeniable power poses legitimate danger for Joshua, who was dropped four times and stopped in the seventh round by Andy Ruiz Jr. in June 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I believe Anthony Joshua will make easy work of Francis Ngannou,” Hearn told Boxing Social during an interview posted to its YouTube channel Sunday. “I don’t think it’s not dangerous. Like Ngannou has power. He’s very strong. But that’s my [opinion]. I believe that Anthony Joshua will be much too good for Francis Ngannou. So, it’s never a disrespect thing.

“And he has the ability to send anyone down, as he says – anyone. It could be AJ, he did it to Tyson Fury, I’m sure there’s many others. But there’s more to it than that. You know? There’s more to the skill and the art of boxing. And I believe he’ll be too good for him.”

The pay-per-view main event between England’s Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) and Cameroon’s Ngannou (0-1) was officially announced during a press conference Monday afternoon in London.

The 6-foot-6, 251-pound Joshua opened recently as more than a 6-1 favorite according to most sportsbooks, but Hearn gave Ngannou credit for winning his professional boxing debut – officially a 10-round, split-decision defeat to unbeaten WBC champ Tyson Fury on October 28 at Kingdom Arena. The 6-foot-4, 272-pound Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champ, floored Fury with a left hook in the third round, which a resourceful Fury overcame to win their pay-per-view main event on two scorecards (96-93, 95-94, 94-95).

Hearn nevertheless envisions Joshua decisively defeating Ngannou and remaining in position to finally fight Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs). Though one of Fury’s favorite targets for criticism, Hearn expects England’s Fury to beat IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO champ Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) in their 12-round title unification clash February 17 at Kingdom Arena.

“It depends how AJ wants to approach the fight,” Hearn said. “I think if he chooses to box smart, yeah, he can do the 10 rounds no problem. If he chooses to be aggressive, I think he knocks him out. But you’ve got to always be smart in the heavyweight division. Like it’s not that Francis Ngannou can knock AJ out, or can drop Fury, anybody can who’s that size and knows how to throw their hands. Do you know what I mean?

“So, I think that Francis Ngannou, it’s admirable the fact that this is his second professional fight – his first one was against Tyson Fury and his second one is against Anthony Joshua. And he's competing. He’s competitive. I thought, you know, people say, Francis is saying, you know, about me selling it, I think he beat Fury. Right? Like, but I just, when it comes to AJ, I just, I think we’re on a roll now. And I think we’re gonna do the business and then beat Tyson Fury.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.