Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou predictions, odds and boxing betting tips

Paddy Power are offering new customers odds of 35-1 on Anthony Joshua to beat Francis Ngannou.

We’ve included the terms and conditions of this offer later on in this article.

Where to watch Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou in the UK

You can watch Joshua v Ngannou on Sky Sports Box Office with the main event expected to take place at 11.20pm on Friday.

A nine-fight undercard, headlined by the heavyweight clash between Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker, begins at 3.20pm UK time.

Where is Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou taking place?

Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou will take place at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Friday, March 8.

Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou ring-walk time

The ring walk for Anthony Joshua v Otto Wallin is expected to take place at 11pm with the official start time at 11.20pm.

Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou fight predictions and best bets

Under 7.5 rounds in Joshua v Ngannou
4pts 8-11 Coral, Ladbrokes

Click here to back Anthony Joshua to beat Francis Ngannou and get 35-1 with Paddy Power

Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou odds

Anthony Joshua 1-3
Francis Ngannou 11-4
Draw 25-1

Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou predictions

Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou headline a blockbuster fight card in Saudi Arabia on Friday evening and the crossover heavyweight clash looks likely to live up to its billing.

The contest has been marketed as 'Knockout Chaos', which may offer a good insight into exactly how the fight will go down.

Joshua has been drifting in the betting in the week all week and is now 1-3 to emerge victorious in Riyadh and 8-11 to register a stoppage victory.

Those offers certainly appear to be generous, and perhaps it’s the weight of money from Ngannou’s legion of MMA fans that is seeing the Predator's price contract as we get closer to fight time.

However, the Cameroonian has also already shown that he has the power to hurt the best heavyweights around, knocking down WBC world champion Tyson Fury in his first professional boxing bout in October.

The Gypsy King is arguably the best big-hitter on the planet and will bid to become the undisputed ruler of the heavyweight division when he takes on Oleksandr Usyk for the four major belts in May, so the fact that Ngannou had him clinging on for much of their content has to be viewed as a positive.

And it’s also possible that Ngannou will improve from his first career bout.

At 37 years of age, there is unlikely to be much progression in terms of Ngannou's boxing skills or ability, but the former MMA star should now be confident that he has the required power and punch resistance to be effective in the boxing ring, albeit that increased self-belief could ultimately prove to be his downfall against Joshua.

Ngannou doesn’t have the skill or movement to counter-punch or box on the back foot, and he will likely march forward in an upright, wide-guard stance in a bid to close the gap on AJ.

That will afford the Predator more opportunities of landing power shots but, at the same time, it will leave him open to attack.

Power has been Joshua’s kryptonite throughout his professional career – the Watford fighter was dropped four times in his shock loss to Andy Ruiz, Wladimir Klitschko sent him to the canvas at Wembley in 2017 and Usyk also had the Briton in big trouble in their two meetings.

Joshua's punch resistance is another concern, but the 34-year-old has extremely heavy hands of his own and he has the schooling to pick off a stationary target in the shape of Ngannou.

Trainer Ben Davison has hinted that Joshua will adopt an aggressive approach and with Ngannou only able to operate one way, this fight is likely to develop into a toe-to-toe war.

The total rounds line has been set at 7.5 and going under that mark looks a solid bet.

It’s forecast to be around 26C in Riyadh which should bring fatigue into play, so it seems unlikely that this heavy-hitting ten-round clash will get anywhere near the final bell.

Best bets for the Joshua v Ngannou undercard

Zhilei Zhang to win by stoppage
1pt Evs Hills

Zhilei Zhang v Joseph Parker predictions

There’s an extensive undercard to get stuck into in Saudi Arabia and big-hitting Zhilei Zhang can score a stoppage victory in his WBO interim world heavyweight clash with Joseph Parker.

Chinese fighter Zhang is a powerful and awkward southpaw who produced two explosive performances to twice stop Joe Joyce.

Big Bang also had the highly rated and unbeaten Filip Hrgovic on the canvas prior to his victories over Joyce, and the New Jersey-based fighter could consider himself unfortunate not to be awarded the decision on that occasion.

Parker is a former world champion who pulled off arguably the biggest win of his career when beating Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia in December.

However, the form of that victory over an out-of-sorts Wilder is questionable and there is little substance to recent successes over Simon Kean, Derek Chisora, Faiga Opelu and Jack Massey.

The New Zealander, who will be contesting his 37th professional bout in Riyadh, has plenty of miles on the clock and while Zhang is the older fighter, he is also fresher and less exposed.

Elsewhere on the undercard, British fighter Nick Ball takes on Rey Vargas for the WBC world featherweight title while Portsmouth lightweight Mark Chamberlain lines up against Welshman Gavin Gwynne.

Joshua v Ngannou full undercard

Zhilei Zhang v Joseph Parker
Rey Vargas v Nick Ball
Israil Madrimov v Magomed Kubanov
Mark Chamberlain v Gavin Gwynne
Justis Huni v Kevin Lerena
Jack McGann v Louis Greene
Roman Fury v Martin Svarc
Ziyad Almaayouf v Christian Lopes Flores
Andrii Novytskyi v Juan Torres

Get 35-1 on Anthony Joshua to beat Francis Ngannou with Paddy Power.

We’ve already mentioned that Paddy Power are offering new customers 35-1 on Anthony Joshua to beat Francis Ngannou.

Head over to Paddy Power through this link and open a new account using promo code YSACIK
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Paddy Power Joshua v Ngannou betting sign-up offer: terms and conditions

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