Francis Ngannou’s striking coach, Dewey Cooper, broke down the former UFC heavyweight champion’s upcoming boxing match with Anthony Joshua.
In October 2023, Ngannou shocked the world by knocking down Tyson Fury and nearly defeating the heavyweight great in a ten-round boxing match. As a result, ‘The Predator’ has defied the odds and separated himself as one of the biggest heavyweight superstars in boxing.
Ngannou’s performance against Fury proved he belongs in big-money super-fights. Therefore, ‘The Predator’ will return to the ring on March 8, when he meets U.K. superstar Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia for another ten-round boxing match.
The former UFC heavyweight champion must overcome another world-class heavyweight in a sport he’s not fully experienced in. Luckily, he has an experienced team around him that includes Dewey Cooper and Eric Nicksick of Xtreme Couture.
During an interview with Luke Thomas, Cooper had this to say about Ngannou’s upcoming opponent:
“I’m well-versed when it comes to Anthony Joshua. The one thing that we have to look out for, there are several things, but if there were only one, it would be that powerful right hand, of course. He throws it to the body just to set up that headshot. He has a lot of power. He can put a guy’s lights out with one punch, so it’s gonna be a hell of a fight.”
Dewey Cooper breaks down the difference between Francis Ngannou fighting Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua
Tyson Fury was widely considered a top two heavyweight boxer when he faced Francis Ngannou in the ring. With that said, styles make fights, and Anthony Joshua presents a different approach than ‘The Gypsy King.’
During the previously mentioned interview, Dewey Cooper detailed the differences between how Ngannou matches up stylistically to Fury and Joshua:
“He’s a very good fighter, fundamentally sound, strong, big athletic, good footwork when he wants to. He’s going to be a real challenge because the Tyson Fury fight was about skill. It was about being cerebral because Tyson has so many different styles. He fights in three or four different styles. This fight is mano a mano, fire vs. fire. Tyson Fury fight was water vs. fire.”
Cooper continued:
“Tyson was water. He can drown you. He can splash on you. He can crash on you. He can just wear you down, all these different things. Joshua brings the same tools that Francis brings. Of course Joshua’s pedigree is very high. He’s an Olympic gold medalist for crying out louds. At the end of the day, he’s going to try and bring the pressure, be on the front foot with that jab that he throws well, and land his big right hand. Guess what? ‘The Predator’ Francis Ngannou is going to be doing the same thing.”
Francis Ngannou is riding high on confidence, but so is Anthony Joshua. In December 2023, Joshua extended his winning streak to three fights by securing a fifth-round TKO win against Otto Wallin.
‘AJ’ has rejuvenated his career since suffering back-to-back losses against Oleksandr Usyk and plans to continue building momentum by taking out Ngannou.
Watch Dewey Cooper’s entire interview with Luke Thomas below:
