Francis Ngannou’s head coach Dewey Cooper believes Anthony Joshua could be more dangerous than Tyson Fury.
Fury is the undefeated WBC champion and he fights Oleksandr Usyk live on DAZN.com on February 17, but despite never suffering a loss, he was pushed close in a split-decision win over Ngannou last year.
That was Ngannou’s first professional boxing bout and such was the strength of his showing that he earned a return to Saudi Arabia, this time to fight former world champion Joshua on March 8.
Joshua has been beaten three times - once to Andy Ruiz and then back-to-back losses against Usyk - but has three consecutive victories on his comeback trail, with his last appearance in the ring an impressive stoppage of Otto Wallin.
Speaking to Fruity Slots, Cooper weighed up the prospect of his fighter taking on Joshua
“Is AJ a more difficult fight than Tyson?” he asked himself. “I've pondered this myself, it's like fire and water.
“Fury was water. Water can be frozen and he could hit you solidly, but you have to contain his high skill and high IQ, whereas AJ is fire, fire can burn you, fire can scorch you and it's really painful to get burned by that flame, the power of Anthony Joshua I'm talking about, so this fight is as difficult as Tyson Fury because of the power factor, the fire he has in hands, he can put you out.
“I knew Fury could not land one punch to topple Francis, he'd need a multitude of punches, but Joshua is more dangerous from that perspective.
“They are both difficult, particularly because of the experience Francis lacks, but Francis has those intangibles; crazy power, the chin, and he's way more mentally tough than people know. It will be a different type of Fury, action personified.”
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