Fact-check: Did Francis Ngannou Say Anthony Joshua’s Killer Punch was Poorly Delivered

Fact-check: Did Francis Ngannou Say Anthony Joshua’s Killer Punch was Poorly Delivered

Claim: A viral claim, especially on Facebook and Instagram says that Cameroonian and French professional mixed martial artist, Francis Ngannou underestimated the potency of the killer punch delivered on him by Nigerian-born, British boxer, Anthony Joshua in the early hours of Saturday.

Full Text: In the claim, Ngannou was reported to have said that Anthony Joshua’s killer punch that knocked him out of their Heavyweight bout in the second round on Saturday was poorly delivered. 

A Kogi-based Facebook blog, Kogi Global Media amplified the claim which had the following text:

“Didn’t Feel That Knockout Blow Because it Was Poorly Delivered – Francis Ngannou 

 “I didn’t feel that knickout blow. All I remember is that I was tusslîng with Anthony Joshua and then I woke up minutes later to see him celebrating. I didn’t even feel any paîn.”

Recall that during the bout, the British-Nigerian boxer, Anthony Joshua twice floored Francis Ngannou before knocking him out in the second round, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

 The 37-year-old Ngannou eventually got up to his stool, but the mixed martial arts star was dazed and clearly hurt after his encounter with Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) in only his second pro boxing match. Joshua and Ngannou embraced and talked afterward.

 “I told him he shouldn’t leave boxing, He can do well. Remember, he’s two fights in, and he’s fought the best. He can go a long way if he stays dedicated, but it’s up to him,” Joshua said.

The fight world had optimism for Ngannou after he gave an impressive performance in a near-upset of Tyson Fury last October, losing by a narrow split decision. Joshua quickly proved there’s no substitute for years of boxing experience — and possibly revealed just how lightly Fury treated his bout with Ngannou last fall.

Joshua has held multiple world heavyweight titles in a successful professional career following his gold medal-winning performance in the London Olympics, but the boxer had to rebuild his reputation after losing his three title belts in the first of consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022.

Verification: To verify the veracity of the claim, PRNigeria, obtained and watched the post boxing press conference video of the two fighters on Sky Sport, from YouTube and transcribed Ngannou’s statement.

During the press conference, Ngannou demonstrated professional sportsmanship by congratulating his opponent, Anthony Joshua for his efforts. 

He said: “Aah, well, I think I was just trying to collect as much as possible to make the count after, you know, nonstop, to make it count on what I have done, I was just on my way up and got stopped by AJ (Anthony Joshua). Congratulations.

“That was a clean one, he was quite SPECIAL. You know he did what Tyson Fury couldn’t do, it was not my day, and he was way better than me today. It is a game, we all know that.

When he was asked he felt with Anthony’s punch, he said: “In fact I didn’t feel the punch (general laugher), that was what a knockout is all about, I didn’t feel any pain, that was how I know I was knocked out, (another general laugher)”.

To substantiate this, further checks by PRNigeria, using keyword search corroborated the earlier finding, where MMA Fighting, an online publication reporter reported that Francis Ngannou congratulated Anthony Joshua, but never underestimated his punch that knocked him out in the second round.

Conclusion: Even though Francis Ngannou during his post fight press conference jokingly said that he didn’t feel the knockout punch, he never said that ‘Anthony Joshua’s killer punch’ was poorly delivered.

PRNigeria therefore concludes that the claim that Francis Ngannou said Anthony Joshua’s killer punch against him was poorly delivered was misleading.

By PRNigeria