Francis Ngannou shocked the boxing world when he took Tyson Fury to the brink of defeat in October 2023, losing a controversial split decision to the WBO boxing champion. One of the key players in Ngannou’s success was his striking coach Dewey Cooper, who is now stepping out of the shadows to hype up Ngannou’s next foray into boxing against Anthony Joshua on March 8th.
“The fight gods, the gods of boxing, the gods of entertainment came together to make this happen,” Cooper told ESPN when asked how Joshua vs. Ngannou came to be. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. On the undercard of Joshua vs. Wallen was Deontay Wilder vs. Joseph Parker. Deontay Wilder is supposed to win his fight, Joshua is supposed to win his fight. And that was the fight we were supposed to see.”
“But Deontay didn’t hold up his end of the deal,” he continued. “An opening got in there. Joshua looked spectacular in his fight, he looked really clean, polished, strong, and sharp. And now he has no one to fight. Well, guess what: there’s someone that’ll fight him. There’s an MMA champion that’ll fight him.”
No one is looking past Joshua, but Cooper is envisioning a future where Francis Ngannou wins on March 8th and then kicks off Riyadh Season 2024 with a rematch against Tyson Fury for all the heavyweight belts.
“It’s gonna happen. It’s definitely gonna happen,” Cooper said. “He’s gonna defeat Anthony Joshua and then in October, if the gods of war and boxing come through and Tyson Fury defeats Oleksandr Usyk, it’ll be be Francis and Tyson in a rematch for all the undisputed titles in boxing.”
“A man in his third fight fighting to be undisputed heavyweight champion and winning that in three fights with a record of 2-1 being the undisputed heavyweight champion. With all the belts. It’s gonna happen and that’s insane. It’s never gonna be done again, it’s like someone wrote a fantasy book and this is so far-fetched from being a reality. But it’s very close and it could happen in 2024.”
We all know what tends to happen with best-laid plans in boxing. But perhaps all the sweet science needs is a bit of MMA to sort things out. Ngannou continues to be the next best option for all the top heavyweights, who all happen to underestimate him. Could this ultimate underdog end the year as boxing’s undisputed heavyweight champion? The fact that it’s possible is just wild.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
