Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou: Fight Prediction, Odds & Betting Tips

In this AJ vs Francis boxing betting guide, I will tell you which fighter I think will win as I present all of the actionable information you need to know about betting on this fight, including insights on odds offered by the top bookmakers including some new UK betting sites.

💯 Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou Odds Table

The Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou fight is scheduled to take place on Friday 8th March at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While Joshua will be searching for his 28th professional career victory in this highly anticipated contest against the mixed martial artist, this is going to be Francis Ngannou’s second-ever boxing match after losing on a split decision to Tyson Fury in his debut professional boxing fight back in October last year at the Kingdom Arena.

Following Joshua’s win against Otto Wallin in December last year, many of his fans were eager to see the next AJ fight, and this contest, which is AJ's 4th fight to take place in Saudi Arabia, promises to be entertaining.

Considering the hype and huge anticipation surrounding this Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou heavyweight fight, it is not surprising to see all the leading sportsbooks offering odds on this AJ fight. However, the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou betting & odds are not the same across all bookmakers with some sites offering better odds than others.

However, the good news for UK punters is you do not need to worry about this as we have looked into the British betting marketplace and have picked out the top sites that offer the most competitive Anthony Joshua odds. If you are backing the UFC star, you will also find odds on Francis Ngannou at our recommended sites that you may like.

Check out the latest Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou odds that five of the best betting sites are offering for this boxing fight in the table below.

Player
Anthony Joshua	1.25	1.29	1.27	1.29	1.22
Francis Ngannou	3.75	3.40	3.50	3.40	3.33
Draw	26.00	24.75	14.00	24.75	26.00

As expected, the Briton is the clear favorite while Ngannou is touted as the huge underdog. So, from the above table, you see that the leading UK bookmakers are offering higher Francis Ngannou odds while smaller odds are offered on Anthony Joshua to win.

This means if you decide to bet £20 with 10Bet Sport on AJ to win at 1.25 odds and he goes on to win the fight, your potential net gain would be £5. On the other side, if you were to place £20 with the same sportsbook on Francis Ngannou to win the bout at 4.00 odds, then you would make a profit of £60 if he went on to win.

It is true that boxing fights hardly end in a draw, but do not completely overrule the possibility of the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou fight ending without a winner. As you can see in the table above, the top sites are offering higher odds for the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou fight to end in a draw, which should tell you that the possibility of a draw is very small. However, if you decided to wager £10 on the fight ending in a stalemate with Betiton, then your potential net gain would be £250.

⚡ Anthony Joshua Overview

It is worth noting that after starting his pro career on 5th October 2013 with a technical knockout win over Emmanuel Leo at the O2 Arena in London, only three boxers have been able to defeat Anthony Joshua. The Watford-born has faced several boxers in his career and will be contesting his 31st professional fight in this bout against Francis Ngannou. The British boxer has an excellent professional career record with 27 wins and 3 losses, with 24 of his victories coming by way of a knockout.

Anthony Joshua was undefeated and had won his previous 22 fights before his maiden professional career loss came against unfancied American Andy Ruiz Jr. in a heavyweight contest that saw the latter pick the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles at the Madison Square Garden, New York, USA on 1st June 2019.

Following his maiden professional career loss, he went back into training and six months later, AJ bounced back to secure his revenge against Andy Ruiz Jr. on 7th December 2019 at Diriyah Arena, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, picking all those titles he lost to the American. A year later, Joshua picked another notable victory against Kubrat Pulev in London before he was defeated back-to-back by Ukrainian fighter Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021 in London and August 2022 in Jeddah.

However, the 34-year-old won all of his 3 fights in 2023, picking a unanimous decision victory against Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena in London on 1st April, a 7th-round knockout win over Robert Helenius at the same venue on 12th August, and secured a 5th-round referee’s technical decision win against Otto Wallin at the Kingdom Arena on 23rd December.

📺 Anthony Joshua Video Highlights

⭐ Francis Ngannou Overview

Ahead of Francis Ngannou’s heavyweight fight against Tyson Fury last year, many fans thought Fury was going to knock out the MMA fighter considering the Brit’s pedigree and undefeated record. However, the mixed martial artist proved a lot of people wrong by reaching the distance, and on top of that, his overall performance was incredible, losing to Tyson Fury on points at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh on 28th October 2023.

Of course, Fury was the clear favorite to win the contest as he eventually did. However, those among his fans who were expecting a knockout victory were disappointed after The Gypsy King won on a split decision against the UFC fighter who had not fought in 22 months and also made his professional boxing debut.

One of the best highlights in that fight was when Francis Ngannou dropped Fury to the ground in the third round with a powerful left hook, which was massively celebrated by the Ngannou corner. As they always say, class is permanent, but form is temporary. In the end, Fury clinched a points victory. One of the judges scored it 95-94 for Ngannou whereas the other two scored it in favour of the undefeated Tyson Fury, 96-93 and 95-94.

Ngannou might have won the admiration and support of many boxing fans thanks to his top display against Fury. However, coming up against another superstar in the shape of Anthony Joshua is still a daunting task for Ngannou. Yet, considering the Cameroonian and French fighter was close to recording a historic victory against The Gypsy King, arguably one of the greatest boxers of all time, means he must not be underrated.

📺 Francis Ngannou Video Highlights

💥 Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou: The Long Road to the Match

When it was announced on 15th January 2024 that the next Anthony Joshua fight will be against The Predator on 8th March at the Kingdom Arena, it was good news to a lot of AJ fans who wanted to witness his first bout of the year. On the other side, following the performance of Francis Ngannou against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in a non-title fight on 28th October 2023, most boxing fans started to notice the quality of the martial arts star and were eager to see what he brings to the sport in his next fights.

After Joshua defeated Otto Wallin at the Kingdom Arena on 9th December last year, it was the plan of the Saudi organisers to stage another top heavyweight match with an Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder bout on 9th March this year. However, Wilder lost on a unanimous decision to Joseph Parker on 23rd December in Riyadh which forced the organisers to abandon their initial plan.

Before this fight was finalized, Joshua had, in the past, publicly described a potential fight with the MMA fighter as a "gimmick fight", however, with Wilder losing to Parker, the Watford-born fighter changed his stance to approve a contest against Ngannou as the Briton works his way back to the top of heavyweight boxing.

Many had expected Joshua to enter into a battle against the popular heavyweight Joshua Parker rather than inexperienced boxer Ngannou, however, in choosing to fight Ngannou, AJ faces less risk than might be expected against a skilled pro boxer like Joseph Parker. Another reason why Joshua is fighting the MMA fighter is that the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou fight could face the winner of the Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk or possibly contest for another world title.

As has been the case in this sport, the big heavyweight fights usually take place on a Saturday. However, the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou fight will be happening on a Friday and this is due to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix taking place on Saturday 9th March in Jeddah.

🏆 Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou Predictions

I think all the pressure is on AJ because Ngannou has made his mark in his mainstream sport which is the UFC and has absolutely nothing to lose in this boxing fight. As you have already seen from the odds table, Francis Ngannou is marked as the underdog by the leading betting sites whereas Joshua, a former world heavyweight champion, is touted as the big favorite to win the contest, and I understand these betting lines because of the quality and class of Anthony Joshua.

If you look back at Joshua’s last three victories, he has stopped his opponents before the twelfth round twice, with Finnish boxer Robert Helenius and Swedish professional Otto Wallin suffering a technical knockout in the 7th round and a referee technical decision loss in the 5th round respectively against the British. This current form as well as AJ’s overall 27 career wins makes him the crystal clear favourite to win this fight.

Nevertheless, as I have already pointed out, the MMA star, Francis Ngannou, should not be underestimated. I was impressed by his confident performance against Fury last year, taking the bout to the 12th round and losing narrowly on split decision. After this defeat, he was ranked 10th in the world by the World Boxing Council.

In professional boxing, the majority of fights are contested over 12 rounds, however, it is worth noting the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou bout is going to be a 10-round fight at the request of the MMA fighter, as it was against Tyson Fury, with each round lasting 3 minutes.

According to Ngannou, he asked for the fight to be a 10-round bout because he is not a seasoned boxer and recently decided to compete in the sport While 10-round fights are not new to Joshua, the Watford boxer has not entered into such fights since he last did on 30th May 2015 against Kevin Johnson, with Joshua stopping Johnson in just the second round with a technical knockout at the O2 Arena in London.

Moreover, the last AJ fight that traveled to the twelfth round was his unanimous decision triumph against Jermain Franklin on 1st April 2023 at the same venue in London. Therefore, I do not think this 10-round AJ vs Francis battle presents any sort of advantage to Ngannou who asked for it.

However, looking at the fact that Ngannou took his fight against Fury to the final and 10th round, you can get some value by betting on the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou fight to get to the full distance, which is 30 minutes. Overall, Joshua is in pole position to win this contest due to his experience in the sport. He has an excellent height of 6 feet 6 inches and is three years younger than 37-year-old Francis Ngannou. I know AJ has lost to a big underdog before, but that happened 4 years ago against Andy Ruiz Jr., who shocked the boxing world by inflicting a first career defeat on Joshua in June 2019.

AJ's two other career losses came against the powerful Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, and it did not surprise many boxing fans considering the pedigree of The Cat, undefeated in 14 fights as of March 2024. However, should Joshua lose to the unfancied Ngannou, this would represent one of the biggest upsets in the recent history of heavyweight boxing. Will that happen? I do not think so. My Anthony vs Ngannou prediction, therefore, leans towards a win for Anthony Joshua.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions about the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou Fight