Francis Ngannou switched from traditional to orthodox stance in his boxing match against Anthony Joshua, a move that Joshua’s coach, Ben Davison, had anticipated and prepared for, leading to Ngannou’s knockout.
Francis Ngannou was knocked out cold. He had switched from a traditional to an orthodox stance in his boxing match against Anthony Joshua. This happened just before a flurry of punches took him out.
Ben Davison, Joshua’s coach, wasn’t surprised. He said they’d seen this move before. They’d watched Ngannou in MMA, where stance switches are more common.
“We knew he’d struggle to defend,” Davison said. He was referring to a scenario they’d set up. Ngannou would find it hard to defend the right hand from a southpaw stance. “That’s what happened,” he added.
Davison was speaking on The MMA Hour. He thought Ngannou had made a mistake. But he understood why. Ngannou had done this throughout his career.
Davison had footage to review. It was from Ngannou’s near-upset of Tyson Fury last October. He didn’t shy away from using it. He also took cues from Ngannou’s UFC days. Everything was fair game to set up the right hands that broke through Ngannou’s guard.
Joshua and his team took Ngannou seriously. They used his lack of experience against him.
Davison felt they had found the key. They created situations where Ngannou wouldn’t see the punches. They distracted him before hitting him with something else. “That was the key,” Davison said. He felt AJ did a good job with that.
Ngannou had never been knocked out before. He’d never been hurt badly in the octagon or the boxing ring. After the fight, skeptics questioned Ngannou’s toughness. But Davison said the knockout was due to an event Ngannou couldn’t survive.
Davison didn’t think Ngannou lacked a chin. But he didn’t think it had been tested properly. “No matter how good your chin is, when you’re getting hit with punches you can’t see by someone like Anthony Joshua, no chin’s going to hold up against that,” he said.
Now, people are wondering if Ngannou’s boxing experiment is over. He went the distance with Tyson Fury, but he’s now 0-2 with a brutal knockout loss. Fights against people like Deontay Wilder, which seemed possible before the knockout, might be off the table.
Davison thinks it’s unfair to write off Ngannou. He saw improvements in Ngannou’s stance and footwork. He thinks Ngannou took on too much in his second fight. But he sees more manageable challenges in the future.
Davison said, “You’ve got to think about who he went up against in his first couple of fights.” He thinks Ngannou would be a handful for anyone, even at his current level. He believes Ngannou made significant improvements from his first boxing match to the second.
Davison agrees with Ngannou. If the fight was in the cage, it would be a different story. He understands why critics would be more critical of a fighter risking everything in a different sport.
“If any of these guys step into the cage with [Ngannou], it’s game over,” Davison said. “They have one chance to land a clean shot. If they don’t and he gets ahold of them, it’s over.”
Davison understands why Ngannou crossed over to boxing. A big part of his game is his standup game. But he also understands the frustration. If these guys were to go into the cage, Ngannou would have the advantage.