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

There are interesting fights on the 2024 global boxing calendar and one of the highly anticipated bouts of this year is the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou heavyweight fight scheduled to take place on 8th March at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In this AJ vs Francis boxing betting guide, I will walk you through all you need to know about betting on this fight, including insights on odds offered by the best betting sites and which fighter I think will be victorious.

💯 Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou Odds Table

This is going to be Francis Ngannou’s second-ever boxing match after losing on a split decision to Tyson Fury in his first back in October last year at the Kingdom Arena while Joshua will be fighting in Saudi Arabia for the fourth time in his professional boxing career against the mixed martial artist.

It is not surprising to see all the top sportsbooks offering odds on this Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou fight due to the huge anticipation that is surrounding the contest. However, the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou odds are not the same across all bookmakers with some sites offering better odds than others.

The good news for Irish punters is you do not need to worry about this as we have looked into the Irish betting marketplace and have picked out the top sites that offer the most competitive AJ vs Francis odds.

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

Player
Anthony Joshua	1.22	1.19	1.28	1.22	1.19
Francis Ngannou	3.72	4.55	3.75	4.33	4.55
Draw	21.00	20.25	23.00	19.00	20.25

Considering the professional track record of the Brit, it is understandable that the leading bookmakers are offering lower Anthony Joshua odds with higher odds put on Francis Ngannou who will be contesting his only second boxing fight.

This means if you decide to bet €20 with 1Bet Sports on AJ to win and he goes on to win the fight, your potential net gain would be €4. On the other side, if you were to place €20 with the same sportsbook on Francis Ngannou to win the bout, then you would make a profit of €58.20 if he went on to win.

As you can see in the table above, the top sites are offering quite significant 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 Betway, then your potential net gain would be €250.

⚡ Anthony Joshua Overview

Anthony Joshua 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. After starting his pro career on 5th October 2013 with a technical knockout win over Emmanuel Leo, only three boxers have been able to defeat AJ.

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.

Six months later, AJ bounced back from this loss 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 heavyweight victory against Kubrat Pulev in London before he was conquered 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

The mixed martial artist demonstrated his lofty ambition to the boxing world with his incredible performance in his loss to Tyson Fury at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh on 28th October 2023. Fury was the clear favourite 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 was fighting for the first time in 22 months and also making his professional boxing debut.

One of the best moments 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. 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.

Coming up against another top fighter, Anthony Joshua is still a daunting task for Ngannou. However, considering the Cameroonian and French fighter lost on points to Fury, arguably one of the greatest boxers of all time, means he must not be underrated which makes this Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou fight another one to keep an eye on.

📺 Francis Ngannou Video Highlights

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

Following the performance of Francis Ngannou against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in a non-title fight last year, 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. Therefore, it was good news to boxing enthusiasts when it was announced on 15th January 2024 that The Predator will be taking on AJ on 8th March at the Kingdom Arena.

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 possible fight with the MMA fighter as a "gimmick fight", however, with Wilder losing to Parker, the Watford-born fighter changed his stance to accept a contest against Ngannou as the Briton works his way back to the top. Many had expected Joshua to fight the popular heavyweight Parker rather than inexperienced boxer Ngannou, however, in choosing to fight Ngannou, AJ faces less risk than it might be expected against a seasoned boxer like Joseph Parker.

Joshua also decided to fight mixed martial artist because 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.

🎁 Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou Top Free Bet Offers

Considering the plethora of online betting sites available in Ireland, sportsbooks are always looking for ways to keep their customers and one of such ways is to offer you competitive free bets offers and promotions that you may be able to use on this AJ vs Francis boxing match.

In the following table, you can find five top bookmakers that are offering what I feel are some of the best free bonuses available at this current moment in time. If you decide to open an account with any of these sports betting sites, you can use your bonuses on whatever Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou betting options you are looking at. However, always remember to gamble responsibly by setting yourself a budget and sticking to it.

In addition to this, always make sure to read the terms and conditions for all offers and promotions before you go ahead and accept any offers a bookmaker is offering. You can also read our bookmaker reviews to read more about sports betting at our top sportsbooks.

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🏆 Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou Fight History

As you have already seen from the odds table, Ngannou is marked as the underdog by the leading betting sites whereas Joshua, a former world heavyweight champion, is seen as the big favourite to win the contest, and I understand these betting lines because of the class of Anthony Joshua.

If you look at Joshua’s last three victories, he has stopped his opponents before the 12th 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 cleat 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.

Most professional boxing 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 three minutes.

According to Ngannou, he asked for the fight to be a 10-round bout because he is not a seasoned boxer. 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.

Additionally, the last AJ fight that traveled to the 12th 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 good an excellent height of 6 feet 6 inch 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