While we will wait to see that for sure in May with Fury's fight with Oleksandr Usyk coming then, Ngannou definitely proved that he is out of his league against a prepared and motivated top heavyweight as former champion Anthony Joshua knocked Ngannou down in the first and second before a right hand from hell ended the fight with a definite contender for knockout of the year.
Ngannou may given the fight of his life to an underprepared and fairly inactive Fury but he was no match for Joshua, who was fighting for the fourth time in a year and looked razor-sharp against a relative novice in the sport.
Ngannou was completely puzzled by Joshua's jab and had no options for getting inside on the taller Briton.
The Joshua dispatching of Ngannou likely ends Ngannou's boxing forays for the time being as he is likely to return to the MMA league where he is the heavyweight champion.
As for Joshua, he's clearly the world's third-best heavyweight and his increased activity has sharpened his skills.
In the co-feature, Joseph Parker won a minor title and more importantly, will move into the WBO mandatory contender position by majority decision over Zhilei Zhang.
Zhang scored both knockdowns in the fight in the third and eighth rounds but was reluctant to follow up and gave away the final four rounds by refusing to throw punches allowing Parker to peck away to pile up points.
The fight was far from thrilling but there will be a rematch as contractually stipulated should Parker earn the victory.
The judges' scores for Parker were 115-111 114-112 (same as mine) and even at 113-113.
Before Anthony Joshua's win, the fighter of the night may have Israil Madrimov, who annihilated Magomed Kurbanov in stopping him in five rounds to win the vacant WBA junior middleweight title.
I picked Kurbanov, who had the better wins and competition, and Madrimov had been out of the ring for eighteen months, which made me lean towards the upset.
Madrimov couldn't miss with his left hand and he dominated every aspect of the fight and while the stoppage may have been a bit early, it was a matter of time before the fight ended as Madrimov was that dominant.
Madrimov needs to fight more often and be seen more but he has the talent to be a future star.
I haven't had time to watch Rey Vargas retaining his WBC featherweight title over Nick Ball.
Ball scored knockdowns in the eighth and eleventh rounds with the cards reading 114-113 for Vargas, 116-110 for Ball, and even at 113.
Ball was expected to face WBA champion Raymond Ford, if he had won, on the Matchroom vs Queensbury card later this year but Ford was on social media with the comment saying he thought Ball won, and he is still willing to fight Ball on that card.
Boxing Challenge
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