Ben Davison believes we saw a BETTER Francis Ngannou against Anthony Joshua than we had vs Tyson Fury – despite his devastating knockout defeat.
Last October the former UFC heavyweight king was incredible on his boxing debut as he took WBC king Fury to the brink before dropping a hotly disputed decision. So much so that he was given a live chance of upsetting Joshua last Friday night in Riyadh.
It did not work out that way though as Ngannou was blasted to the canvas three times inside two rounds – the last time a highlight-reel right hand to provide the KO.
Despite that crushing defeat though, and the bout lasting less than six minutes Joshua’s trainer Davison says he saw major improvement in Ngannou from last October.
Ben Davison on Ngannou
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, he said: “If I’m honest, when he come out in Round, I could see – and I haven’t spoken to his team – but I can assure you that they would say he made tremendous improvements from the first boxing match to the second.
“I know it doesn’t look that way because of the end result, but I can assure you that’s what they would say because I could see it, even as quick as the fight was ended and what happened, happened. I could see from the offset he had made massive improvements from the first fight to that fight. And I think he’d continue to make improvement because he’s that type of a character and I’ve got a helluva lot of respect for him.”
So what did Davison see that makes him have that strongly held belief?
“His base, his legs seemed a lot better, his posture seemed a lot better,” he explained.
“He had a little bit more tempo about him in moments. Again I know it was a brief period, but those things there showed me signs of improvements immediately.”
Davison has massive respect for Ngannou, and he was at pains to sum up just what ‘The Predator’ had achieved by being competitive against elite heavyweights.
“He said something at the press conference, and I have to back him on this, if any of these guys were to step into the cage with him – it’s game over. They have one chance and one shot to land a clean shot, and if they don’t and he gets a hold of them, it’s game over.”
