RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – It should come as no surprise that one of Francis Ngannou’s coaches is confident in what he’ll bring to the ring in his sophomore boxing outing.
But the level at which Dewey Cooper is confident says plenty about the strides those around the former UFC heavyweight champion think he’s made in the short amount of time since he crossed over into the boxing world.
Ngannou left the UFC in 2023 after a contract dispute while he still was champion. He signed with the PFL for MMA, but also has executive duties built into his deal – and a chance to box, which he did this past fall against Tyson Fury and shocked the world with an early knockdown, though he lost a controversial split decision.
His showing, though, got him ranked in the WBC top 10, and now he has another big matchup Friday in Saudi Arabia against Anthony Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs). Cooper thinks Ngannou (0-1) matches up well against Joshua, who is about a 4-1 favorite in the fight (DAZN pay-per-view).
“I see him really calm and at peace with what he has to do … he’s really low temperament. He’s perfect right now. No stress,” Cooper told MMA Junkie after Ngannou weighed in just north of 272 pounds for the fight. “He’s much more improved in every aspect, and everyone will see. Joshua is a more of a textbook boxer (than Fury), more of a classic boxer, more of a basic boxer. We simplified some things and we just expect Francis to be really dominant (Friday).”
Because Joshua is considered to be a fighter in the style Cooper described, some have expressed concern that Ngannou can go the distance if he has to and still get his hand raised. But Cooper was quick to point out Ngannou went the distance with Fury, and he’s got more than four months additional boxing training under his belt now.
Cooper said he’d love for Ngannou to put Joshua away. And the oddsmakers think that’s much more likely than Ngannou going 30 minutes to get his hand raised. The odds for Ngannou to win by decision are 20-1 against it.
“We should have won a decision in his first outing against Tyson Fury, so he can definitely win by decision,” Cooper said. “However, anytime you get a champion like Francis Ngannou into a fight, our ultimate goal is domination. And most of the time, the way you dominate someone is by knocking them out. So in a perfect world, if it were up to me, if I had a magic wand, I would wave it and he’d knock him out in the first round. But he’s prepared to go 10 if we have to.”
Much of the focus on Ngannou has been on what he’ll do after this, though. He’s got the PFL deal in place for MMA, and 2023 heavyweight winner Renan Ferreira is fresh off a quick obliteration of Bellator heavyweight champ Ryan Bader to set up a fight with Ngannou.
But Cooper said if Ngannou upsets Joshua on Friday, the door will be open for opportunities in boxing that almost certainly will outweigh a PFL MMA fight against Ferreira.
“I like the idea of him being happy. So whoever makes him happy is what we will support,” Cooper said. “There are big opportunities in boxing now. The winner of his fight with Joshua will face the winner of (Oleksandr) Usyk-Fury, and that fight will be for the unified belts – all four belts in professional boxing.
“When you have an opportunity to do that – he’s already won the UFC heavyweight title. Imagine in 2024, he’s the unified heavyweight boxing champion of the world. This is something that’s never been done before. This is something that will catapult him to the baddest man on the planet because he got the UFC strap and all four belts in boxing – never been done.”
And if Ngannou’s next fight happens to be in PFL’s cage for the first time against Ferreira on a pay-per-view, that’s OK, too.
“Wwhatever he wants to do,” Cooper said. “I’m definitely OK with him fighting mixed martial arts because that’s where our team all started, from him fighting MMA. I love MMA. I love boxing. I just love to fight. Any fighting style is great. So whatever he wants to do, we’re going to be right behind him, helping him as much as we can.”
For more on the fight, visit MMA Junkie’s hub for Joshua vs. Ngannou.
