Comments Thread For: Joshua Claims Ngannou Is The Biggest Challenge Of His Life

[TMLT87]

February 2024

Ring Champion- Oleksandr Usyk
1. Tyson Fury
2. Anthony Joshua
3. Zhilei Zhang
4. Joseph Parker
5. Filip Hrgovic
6. Frank Sanchez
7. Jared Anderson
8. Joe Joyce
9. Deontay Wilder
10. Agit Kabayel


The Ring Magazine top Ten:

February 2005

Ring Champion- Vitali Klitschko
1. Chris Byrd
2. John Ruiz
3. Hasim Rahman
4. James Toney
5. Monte Barrett
6. Andrew Golota
7. Fres Oquendo
8. Jameel McCline
9. Corrie Sanders
10. Lamon Brewster

Not sure which list is better really but it is an interesting contrast seeing how much of an American presence there still was back in in 2005.

[Willow The Wisp]

I can’t take you seriously when you’re trying to run down atg’s such as Ali, foreman and Frazier while trying to defend an era where (as per your ring list) considers AJ to be a top 3 heavyweight. That’s laughable. For the record, the Klitchko era was extremely weak too. The last hw era that elite level boxers was the era with Lewis, Holyfield, Bowe etc. This current crop of hw’s is weak and AJ is one of the most overrated fighters in history. Primarily because Brits loved him and wanted him to be great. Unfortunately he isn’t and is also a weak minded quitter. Have a great day though.

Didn't mean to throw you off, but this seems to've sailed over your head. That wasn't representative of My thoughts, it was "the critic"'s. The illustration was, even the greatest eras get people on the sofa calling them nothing. I respect those 70s Heavyweights, and was (or is) friends with every single one of them.

[Willow The Wisp]

Not sure which list is better really but it is an interesting contrast seeing how much of an American presence there still was back in in 2005.

I think that Vitali, Byrd, Golota make it into today's top 10. Maybe Ruiz or Rahman. The rest, would struggle to find a home in the top 20.

[Willow The Wisp]

The UFC and Ngannou burned bridges big time so they dont celebrate what he does. MMA fans? maybe. I think they have a right to tbh. Its pathetic that the boxing world is letting 0-0 MMA fighters come and box literal active top 5 ranked boxers in PPV main events. Its like they're trying to use the name value of MMA guys to generate business with an (on paper) lower risk factor than fighting a boxer with comparable name value. So you've got Fury fighting MMA guys instead of Usyk or AJ and now AJ doing the same thing instead of fighting Fury or Wilder. These guys deserve it to backfire on them and boxing as a sport deserves it for playing host to ****ing DOZENS of these ****** crossover fights since 2017 in some barrel scraping desperation move to get casual attention.

I agree with the central expression here.

The UFC is most likely fearful that others may try using them as a stepping stone, in light of Nagnnou's example, and they have enough problems.

But, I also give credit to Ngannou for his boxing ability. He's never wrestled in his life. No Freestyle, no Greco-Roman. He's only slightly familiar with Brazilian Jujitsu. He's never had a Judo or a Karate class, never fought a single Muay Thai or other style Kickboxing match; never trained in Sambo, Savate, Taekwondo, Akido, Kung Fu or anything else.
His base in MMA is pure Western Boxing, a fighting discipline that he has formally trained in since 2008, when he was 22, and he had only Boxing aspirations well before that, as a child in Batie. After reaching Paris, he resumed his Boxing training under Didier Carmont.
His foray into Mixed Martial Arts came as the result of a fluke, when introduced to Fernand Lopez, founder of the MMA Factory in Paris, the biggest MMA gym in France, while his Boxing gym was on holiday.
The work that Lopez did with Ngannou; work carried on in his training at Xtreme Couture in the US, focused on not reinventing the boxer, but on filling in the gaps, stuffing takedowns, checking kicks, scrambling when he's down, and knowing just enough outside of boxing so that he can maintain & regain the position to Box.

The man is and always was a boxer, and one who, on his way to where he finds himself today, fulfilling his lifelong goal; has used that boxing to smash up top MMA heavyweight Curtis Blaydes, a NJCAA National Champion Freestyle Wrestler; MFC Heavyweight champion Anthony Hamilton, a NJCAA All-American in wrestling; World Sambo Championship medalist Andrei Arlovski, the former UFC heavyweight champion, who holds the record for most wins (23) in UFC heavyweight history; the legendary Alistair Overeem, the first fighter to hold world titles in MMA and K-1 kickboxing at the same time; Cain Velasquez, the Two-time UFC heavyweight champion, and the National NJCAA Wrestling Champion and NCAA All-American in the heavyweight (285 lb limit) division, and was regarded by many as the greatest MMA big man in history before the dominant arrival of Ngannou on the scene; Brazilian legend Junior Dos Santos, another fabeled UFC heavyweight champion who most place among the greatest ever; Jairzinho Rozenstruik, then the top UFC contender for the title; and Stipe Miocic; the then reigning UFC champion and number 1 in the world, who, along with Fedor Emelianenko, Velasquez, Dos Santos and Ngannou are generally thought to be the five best MMA fighters of all-time without regard to weight; and Ciryl Gane, a top kickboxer and yet another number one ranked UFC Challenger.
In there are 4 of the 8 best MMA heavyweights of all-Time, including Ngannou himself, and 5 of the 14 best, according to FightMatrix, the best source for such things.

I don't see what the fuss is all about when Boxing fans term him a "MMA guy" ("non-boxer"), when all he's ever done is Box, and has done only what any Kickboxer, Judoka, Freestyle Wrestler, BJJ black belt, Submission Grappler or Karatika has to do in MMA, training outside their core to make their core art most effective for the rules!

Ngannou is a long time boxer who gets paid to box, and has merely graduated to the major leagues where he can make the millions.

[Jab jab boom]

But the UFC were like Mice dancing on the table celebrating with the Cat out of the house from the Fury embarrassment and I can only imagine how much they would hoot and holler if Francis is even remotely competitive against Joshua - that would be a Boxing world face palm.

That’s fine. But I personally find AJ to be unlikeable whereas Ngannou isn’t. I also consider AJ fans to be the second most annoying fan base among current boxers. So watching him lose would be enjoyable for me personally

[richardt]

Thank you
This is speaking truthfully
Don’t care what anyone says ; it’s a fughin crossover fight and him stating that this is the biggest fight of his career doesn’t hold ground
A fughin joke

And Joshua is now the first fighter in the entire history of the sport to call a fight against a fighter with a 0-1 record the biggest fight of his career. Joshua should punch himself in the face after his comment. It's one thing to sell a fight but Joshua said something that is totally retarded.

[MulaKO]

And Joshua is now the first fighter in the entire history of the sport to call a fight against a fighter with a 0-1 record the biggest fight of his career. Joshua should punch himself in the face after his comment. It's one thing to sell a fight but Joshua said something that is totally retarded.

Like I don’t know
So it did sound re tarded
Just doesn’t make sense and it’s a crossover fight
Talk about putting the sport and yourself down

[Roadblock]

Like I don’t know
So it did sound re tarded
Just doesn’t make sense and it’s a crossover fight
Talk about putting the sport and yourself down

Its huge for him because if he loses his entire career is lowered in history, its a big loss to consume, that's where I think he is coming from, I always try and sit in their shoes with quotes taken out of context, I do so in real life so its not just boxing, everyone has a perspective they are coming from and their point of view is paramount to you making your point of view, most people only see their perspective and take words at face value, they rarely look at the other guys perspective.

[shawnkemp804]

The fact that Joshua thinks Ngannou a MMA fighter with one 1 bout is the biggest challenge in his life pretty much sums up how bad the current heavyweight division is.

[MulaKO]

Its huge for him because if he loses his entire career is lowered in history, its a big loss to consume, that's where I think he is coming from, I always try and sit in their shoes with quotes taken out of context, I do so in real life so its not just boxing, everyone has a perspective they are coming from and their point of view is paramount to you making your point of view, most people only see their perspective and take words at face value, they rarely look at the other guys perspective.

I understand what your getting at but let’s not pretend the fact that he’s fighting a non boxer and his record is 0-1
Another L will do just that but I’m sure many factors come into play and him saying he this is his biggest defeat just doesn’t up imo