Francis brought excitement to boxing. He needs one gimmie (Wilder?) fight and then needs to fight Fury/Usyk/Joshua.

[Dr Fong]

From what I understand the Fury fight bombed and the novelty has worn off after Joshua knocked him cold. What's the point in any top guy fighting him after that performance? They can't top it, they'd only look foolish by comparison if Ngannou manages to hang in there for a few rounds.

The guy's pro record is 0-2. Basically boxing's CM Punk. He should at least go KO a few cans to improve the optics of someone fighting him again.

What you understand is not important. What the Saudis and Francis' team understand is what matters.

You are free to predict that Francis will never step foot inside the boxing ring again. I am free to predict that you will be very wrong.

I wouldn't bet against Francis boxing again. There's a good chance he will as there's still money left on the table. He just needs to get himself back into title contention.

Yes, I'm not predicting Francis does well in a boxing comeback, I'm just predicting he will attempt one. It's a pretty safe prediction.

 

[TheGreatA]

What you understand is not important. What the Saudis and Francis' team understand is what matters.

You are free to predict that Francis will never step foot inside the boxing ring again. I am free to predict that you will be very wrong.



Yes, I'm not predicting Francis does well in a boxing comeback, I'm just predicting he will attempt one. It's a pretty safe prediction.

I'm sure he will be seen in a boxing ring but as far as boxing as a sport, Ngannou's role in it is finished. He'll be part of the same sideshow circus as the Paul brothers, which has little to do with boxing, bearing zero impact whatsoever on rankings and so forth.

For a brief moment it appeared that Francis may actually have a role to play in the sport but that window has closed.

 

[Hagler]

Elite boxers need to fight one another and Francis needs to fight elite MMA fighters. Sadly, Francis will go for the bigger paycheck.

 

[Dr Fong]

Elite boxers need to fight one another and Francis needs to fight elite MMA fighters. Sadly, Francis will go for the bigger paycheck.

MMA basically began with the question of 'what would happen if we took boxers, kickboxers and grapplers and had them fight in a no holds barred contest?'

And yet now we've somehow ended up with 'what would happen if we took non-boxers who can't box for shit and had them box against elite boxers?'

It's an extremely stupid world.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

If he is gonna stick around in boxing it should be a huge step down from that level. Someone like Lucas Browne would be about right for him now.

 

[ferrisjso]

He should have done that last time. Now its too late and I think the show is over. How many fights in a row would it take to get Francis back in contention?

The Wilder fight is an even worse idea than the AJ one tbh.

No one can take away what Francis accomplished. But the AJ fight was all or nothing and he got nothing. Its over. I guess the Fury rematch is possible but theres frankly no point to it anymore. And I don't see Fury agreeing to it. People have moved on and Fury only does difficult things when people call him a duck online. No ones calling him a duck for not rematching Francis.

 

[Kovalev's "Man Bag"]

MMA basically began with the question of 'what would happen if we took boxers, kickboxers and grapplers and had them fight in a no holds barred contest?'

And yet now we've somehow ended up with 'what would happen if we took non-boxers who can't box for shit and had them box against elite boxers?'

It's an extremely stupid world.

Francis isn't a proper boxer but he relies on his hands in MMA. He's trained boxing for years. That's why he felt comfortable coming over to the sport and jumping into the deep end. It was a mistake from the very beginning, as I've said all along, but his success against Fury deluded him and his fans into believing that he could repeat it against other elite level boxers in the division that could actually punch. I said AJ's power would be a game changer.

If you recall I also said Francis would never fight AJ, Zhang, or Wilder. He proved me wrong by fighting AJ but now you guys know why I said it in the first place.

 

[djacobox372]

You think foreman takes those shots from Anthony Joshua?

Yes, especially old Foreman. I doubt he could KEEP taking them, but he'd absorb them a lot better than Francis did.

Old George was blasted by a lot of big punchers and often, and he never even came close to going down.

Holyfield beat the absolute crap out of Foreman for 12 rounds... dude was tough as nails. He got similar beatdowns from Moorer, Morrison, and Stewart

 

[HereticBD]

Yes, Wilder is a "gimme" fight for an amateur boxer...

Where do you guys come up with this shit?

 

[Kovalev's "Man Bag"]

You think foreman takes those shots from Anthony Joshua?

We've had some highly durable heavyweight boxers that might've been able to take those shots. I'm not sure about the last bomb though (especially after you're already hurt). Guys like Vitali Klitschko, George Chuvalo, prime Ray Mercer, they all had granite chins. Vitali & Chuvalo had never been dropped in their entire respective pro boxing careers and they both faced some killers. The only time I've ever seen Vitali knocked out was with a powerful kick to the head that blindsided him in kickboxing.

 

[MotorCityCobra]

For those who said you don't think those shots would KO foreman....

Joshua would not knock out Foreman. Of course if foreman was somehow transferred into ngannous exact position I'm pretty sure that last shot just knocks out anyone... but everyone is built different.

Joshua landed as hard or harder shots on ruiz and couldn't get him out of there.

 

[Kovalev's "Man Bag"]

For those who said you don't think those shots would KO foreman....

Joshua would not knock out Foreman. Of course if foreman was somehow transferred into ngannous exact position I'm pretty sure that last shot just knocks out anyone... but everyone is built different.

Joshua landed as hard or harder shots on ruiz and couldn't get him out of there.

I recall some heavy shots landing on Ruiz in both fights. Joshua dropped him with a nasty combo in the first fight. It put him on his back. Ruiz was able to recover though. This version of Joshua is picking his shots better and punching through the target. I don't see Ruiz surviving now.

 

[MMALOPEZ]

Francis is not a top boxer … stop with this nonsense….

 

[Blastbeat]

For those who said you don't think those shots would KO foreman....

Joshua would not knock out Foreman. Of course if foreman was somehow transferred into ngannous exact position I'm pretty sure that last shot just knocks out anyone... but everyone is built different.

Joshua landed as hard or harder shots on ruiz and couldn't get him out of there.

Ruiz has an underrated chin honestly. AJ is the only dude to ever drop him and he got up within 5 seconds or so.
its too bad he doesnt fight very much.

 

[Juzie]

Francis shouldn't box anyone in the top 20-25
Wilder
Whyte
Parker
Etc
All murk him

I'd rate Fury probably as the 9th most skilled heavyweight and Francis pretty much got robbed on that one so you are dead wrong mate.

 

[Seano]

lol at Wilder being a "gimme". Ngannou can't box like Parker and Fury.

 

[HereticBD]

For those who said you don't think those shots would KO foreman....

Joshua would not knock out Foreman. Of course if foreman was somehow transferred into ngannous exact position I'm pretty sure that last shot just knocks out anyone... but everyone is built different.

Joshua landed as hard or harder shots on ruiz and couldn't get him out of there.

It's not so much that that shot wouldn't hurt or even KO another Boxer, it's that he wouldn't have landed it so effortlessly on another elite Boxer. Francis basically walked right into it. Flatfooted, no head movement, lazy defensive stance, seemingly exhausted...

Joshua was licking his chops waiting for that bell to ring.

 

[Kovalev's "Man Bag"]

Ruiz has an underrated chin honestly. AJ is the only dude to ever drop him and he got up within 5 seconds or so.
its too bad he doesnt fight very much.

AJ was the first to drop him to my knowledge. Then Arreola, who was 40 and completely washed, dropped him early in their fight. Almost did it twice. He has a good chin but his recovery is even more impressive.

 

[Blastbeat]

AJ was the first to drop him to my knowledge. Then Arreola, who was 40 and completely washed, dropped him early in their fight. Almost did it twice. He has a good chin but his recovery is even more impressive.

oh shit i forgot about that one. Arreola actually looked the best he had in years in the first half of that fight.
but yeah both times Andy got up and just got back to business