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based in Toronto. AUDIO...

1:51

that if you circle to one combat sports

1:53

fight over the load era... not really loaded,

1:55

but over what we see over the next

1:57

four or five months... This is the five...

2:00

Has anything changed to change that

2:02

in your eyes? Well,

2:05

I mean, everyone's going to have slightly different preferences on

2:07

all of this, right? So it is

2:09

– listen, you've got a lot of great things to choose from. They

2:12

just announced Niri and Inouye at the Tokyo Dome

2:14

in May. I mean, that's a hell of a

2:16

contest, too. But obviously what Francis

2:18

has done in boxing, shaking it up the

2:20

way that he did against Tyson Fury, remarkable.

2:23

Here he is back to the sort of scene of the

2:25

crime, as it were, taking on Anthony Joshua in BC. We

2:28

were talking about this before the camera started rolling. I

2:30

was looking up the odds because I hadn't seen them

2:32

yet. Obviously, they're going to differ in a few places,

2:34

but you've got Anthony Joshua at around minus 400

2:36

or so. You've

2:39

got Francis at around plus 300 or so,

2:41

depending on where you look. I

2:43

am shocked by those odds, not so much

2:45

that I find them completely out

2:48

to lunch. And again, odds are designed to

2:50

induce betting, so they're not necessarily an accurate

2:52

reflection of reality. But

2:55

would you ever imagine Francis in Ghanu's –

2:58

once he split – once he fought Cyril Ghan,

3:00

BC, if I'd have told you

3:02

he's going to fight after this, not MMA,

3:04

but Tyson Fury and Anthony

3:06

Joshua, and he'll be no worse than a

3:08

plus 300 when he does it,

3:11

it just blows your mind. And the way that

3:13

that can re-alter the combat sports map is basically

3:15

unlike any other fight that's out there right now.

3:17

You said it. And maybe just

3:19

for me personally that I'm speaking, this is

3:21

the one I've circled, because it's so damn

3:23

intriguing. And five months

3:25

removed, or five-ish, from last October

3:27

when Ghanu made his pro debut,

3:30

also in Saudi, against Tyson Fury. How

3:33

much has that narrative switched? Let's not

3:35

forget that when Fury and Ghanu signed

3:37

up for their non-title bout, we were basically

3:39

saying, hey, boxing, what are we doing here?

3:41

Ussik Fury's supposedly around the corner. And if

3:44

Ghanu is going to get the fight, at

3:46

least put the title on the line to

3:48

make it worth it. That didn't happen. What

3:50

did happen was Ghanu shocked the world with

3:52

his performance, knocking down an out

3:55

of shape and likely unfocused Tyson

3:57

Fury. But look, if it was

3:59

just one punch and one. one knockdown you'd be

4:01

like wow what a crazy moment near upset of

4:03

a lifetime but the fact that in Ghanu

4:06

finish strong fought the rest of the way

4:09

no his output wasn't big enough

4:11

to have a larger dispute on the

4:13

scorecards and losing a split decision but

4:16

in Ghanu disciplined and

4:18

disarmed the greatest heavyweight

4:20

of this modern era or so we

4:22

think and unbeaten Tyson Fury and

4:24

he's actually earned this shot against Joshua

4:26

which correct me if I'm wrong Luke

4:29

but the winner of this fight even

4:31

with Usyk and Fury being signed up for two

4:33

fights the winner of this

4:35

fight will legitimately have

4:37

a say about who's next for

4:40

the undisputed heavyweight championship not

4:42

in a crossover Maymak let's get Francis in

4:44

there let's get him his bag and run

4:47

he will have earned it if he

4:49

wins on Friday that is mind-blowing

4:51

that shows you how much the narrative can

4:54

change but I think more than anything what

4:56

it shows you is Francis is in the

4:58

midst of the greatest story ever told in

5:00

combat sports history really seriously really we

5:02

got to find out the next chapter whether this is

5:05

a fairy tale or an aberration or whatever but

5:07

that adds a lot to the proceedings heading

5:09

into Friday yeah I mean the worst

5:12

case scenario and I don't you know I don't even know

5:14

how close this would be I'm just saying the worst case

5:16

scenario is he just has to go back to MMA and

5:19

fight somebody there of probably not a big

5:21

name stature but you know a

5:23

comfortable lead he would have on his opponent

5:25

in terms of skill and experience at the

5:28

worst case scenario but the but the better

5:30

to best case scenarios BC are

5:32

are insane if there's any kind of controversy about

5:34

the decision he could get a rematch that'd be

5:37

three fights in boxing to against Anthony Joshua and

5:39

then Tyson Fury potentially could be with another one

5:41

down the line but having already booked that there's

5:43

that but to your point it

5:45

sounds insane it sounds completely like oh here's a

5:48

couple MMA guys and that's not really fair to

5:50

you BC but a couple of MMA guys just

5:52

you know overhyping Francis's chances guys we didn't

5:54

set the odds I'm not necessarily in any

5:56

way predicting Francis wins but I just told

5:58

you he's plus my or excuse me, he's plus 275 in

6:01

certain places. When

6:03

was the last time Anthony Joshua had an opponent

6:05

at plus 275 that had this kind of punching

6:07

power? He doesn't have to hit you very often. He

6:09

just has to hit you at all and it seems

6:12

to have a dramatic effect. And so the point I'm

6:14

trying to make here is all

6:16

of this doesn't make sense. All of this

6:18

sort of really could shape

6:20

and have gravitational pull in all kinds of directions.

6:23

But to answer the question you put BC about

6:25

what it means for potentially being next in line

6:28

for the winner of Furianusic, there's no doubt in

6:30

my mind you could do that, especially if it's

6:32

an emphatic win. And if

6:34

Francis does it, I

6:37

don't even know what, I don't even know if my

6:39

brain can comprehend that BC. I don't even know if

6:41

my brain can comprehend what it might

6:43

mean for Francis to advance his career in

6:45

that way, something we've never seen

6:47

before and probably would never see again, that

6:50

rare, that special. The

6:52

thing is we're working under this working belief

6:55

that if you're the DFL, you're certainly sitting on

6:57

pins and needles here. You signed Francis, you gave

7:00

him the world and I don't damn them for

7:02

that. It was a monster signing, it was in

7:04

the midst of Francis trying to improve fighter conditions

7:06

for everybody. He was given a seat on their

7:08

global board. He was given equity

7:10

in PFL Africa for whatever that will

7:12

end up meaning. But the

7:15

idea is if he upsets Joshua, he probably

7:17

won't even be fighting for the PFL this

7:20

year when this is their biggest year possible

7:22

because it's gonna lead him to

7:24

the things like an undisputed title fight or

7:26

Deontay Wilder for all we know. But don't

7:28

forget too, on the same card

7:30

on Friday on the undercard, Zhang Juelay,

7:32

the heavyweight, the six foot six Chinese

7:35

heavyweight who won that secondary WBO title

7:37

with the big win over Joe Joyce.

7:39

He's taken on Joseph Parker who just

7:41

out pointed Deontay Wilder and really made

7:43

him look bad. You could easily

7:46

see Francis getting the winner of that if

7:48

he wins or maybe even if he loses

7:51

but looks good in doing so. The whole point is the

7:54

landscape for him is only gonna be about

7:56

money moving forward, whether that's really what he's

7:58

all about or not. I don't think he is.

8:00

I think that's part of this. But the other half of it

8:02

is, he might actually F around

8:04

and be a legitimate heavyweight title contender, win

8:06

or lose Friday. And I just, I

8:09

can't even believe that. So how did we

8:11

get here? How is this possible? Certainly part

8:13

of Francis's incredible story, which in his mid

8:15

twenties in Cameroon and what the salt mines

8:17

or something, he's like, no, I want to

8:20

become a heavyweight boxer. So I'm going to

8:22

go to France, but then get delayed in

8:24

jails and then be homeless, sleeping in my

8:26

car and then end up in an MMA

8:28

gym. Oh, by the way, he took a

8:31

detour and became the UFC heavyweight champion and

8:33

then crawled through the Shawshank tunnel of shit

8:35

to get through Cyril Gahn with no

8:37

knees. So there's been a crazy story to

8:39

get here. But Luke, when you

8:42

watched the performance of Fury versus

8:44

Ngannou, even if you can

8:46

put to the side some ideas that I do

8:48

think are true, Fury overweight, Fury

8:50

maybe not taking it as serious as he could

8:52

have. Francis's technical

8:55

ability, his footwork, his ability

8:57

to make himself dangerous was

9:00

far more advanced than it should have been. We

9:03

can say that first and foremost, that this

9:05

isn't just about free power in both hands.

9:07

His setup, his ability to land that

9:10

perfect counter left hook that dropped Fury,

9:13

that's not fooling around. That was the

9:15

moment where all of this changed because I

9:17

think all of us, including Tyson Fury

9:19

most specifically, looked up and was like,

9:21

oh crap, it's not just

9:23

that he has this heavy artillery, he

9:25

has the delivery system. He knows how

9:27

to make himself awkward, yet

9:30

efficient enough to be that dangerous. Luke

9:32

didn't see that coming, seriously, didn't see that

9:35

coming. And what it shows on

9:37

top of all of that is his ability to make

9:39

reads, right? Making reads, because if you

9:41

actually go and look what happened, it's

9:43

not exactly apples to apples, but you remember

9:45

when Gervonta Davis knocked out with

9:50

the uppercut, who was the uppercut guy? One shot,

9:52

one kill. Leo Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz, yes, Leo

9:54

Santa Cruz. When he knocked out Leo Santa

9:56

Cruz, You'll notice Santa Cruz Went with the

9:58

right hand. Who and then was

10:00

the third time Right after that he gets it

10:03

with the uppercut. Wasn't quite like that but of

10:05

one kind of make as if you actually go

10:07

back in you watch the tape is the third

10:09

round knockdown. that and gonna scored. What ended up

10:12

happening was you had Tyson Fury go into the

10:14

well one too many times with that right hand

10:16

into so what it would his friends do. He

10:18

read it and came right over the top with

10:20

perfect timing on an A. Very overconfident and frankly

10:23

a little bit I want a listless as an

10:25

opponent but not inspired performance necessarily from Tyson Fury.

10:27

So you have this ability for a guy to

10:29

make. Reads: in real time in a

10:31

secondary sport. I mean we often I

10:33

we I see this over and over

10:36

again. We focus on France's power because

10:38

it is real. The he has a

10:40

dynamic puncher. How much of one animals

10:42

are sees me boxing is only had the one fight

10:44

we'll see how goes in this when we get a

10:46

better judge of it. but still pretty good reason to

10:48

believe. He's a dynamic puncher, but the thing that we

10:50

always lose sight of bc. Is.

10:52

How smartest guy as I think is a

10:54

smart businessmen look at how is guided his

10:57

career and he is a pretty quick learner.

10:59

The biggest is example of that may not

11:01

necessarily be we should you would boxing but

11:03

look at his development even in his thirties

11:05

between the first and second. Seed.

11:07

Emil to fight. The. These were radically

11:10

different fights and was because France has had

11:12

this dude on his heels hitting it was

11:14

shot he did not expect he did not

11:16

see coming, he did not anticipate they were

11:18

linear, they were clever, and they were powerful

11:20

and he closed the show. When the and.

11:23

It I I fully expect. Anthony

11:25

Joshua to be better. But I also

11:28

expect Francis to be better than we

11:30

saw him the last time. His.

11:32

Or his own trainer doing Cooper as

11:34

told me. If there's not other enemy

11:36

fighters who can do this, Francis is

11:38

one of one. But when you really

11:40

really know, wrap your air, your your

11:42

your your mind around what that means,

11:44

it means he's capable. He's He's trying

11:46

the very difficult here. but he is

11:48

capable of more than the than the

11:50

average sort of even elite guys in

11:52

a similar circumstance. All we can do

11:54

is compare the even though crossing over

11:56

from one sport the other is becoming

11:58

so regular that like. You. Know you

12:01

got things like Decaf See and

12:03

formerly Trailer that are combining Athletes

12:05

from both sports regularly were Saints

12:07

older boxers, Boxing Rising, Emma May

12:09

guys, all that, but it's always

12:11

been the same thing more or

12:13

less and less the enemy fighter

12:15

is extremely younger as an extreme

12:17

size advantage. Is obviously hard for

12:19

them to close that gap so quickly.

12:21

Impossibly hard. I. Mean who did the

12:24

best? Conor Mcgregor? probably yes you know

12:26

you can vocals and then say it

12:28

was a Florida was forty two years

12:31

retired didn't take it so seriously. Wizards

12:33

o'connor got tired and and also lose

12:35

most importantly the biggest criticism upon as

12:37

boxing game in that big landmark twenty

12:40

seven seen fight. Was. Over

12:42

night you can't just switched the foot

12:44

works in the the technique in the

12:46

delivery systems to be able to be

12:48

that Chris to transfer your power Didn't

12:50

look like Conor Mcgregor was able to

12:52

transfer nearly close to the one punch

12:54

warrants club powers that he had with

12:56

the big boxing gloves in the different

12:58

stance. Okay, maybe Anderson Silva was the

13:00

best to make that transition that quickly

13:02

against a wash Julio Cesar Chavez Jr

13:04

and ended up getting the jackpot fight.

13:07

But. Like even a d as going in to

13:09

get St. Paul thought well. But. It's

13:11

rudimentary, It's. Obviously justify

13:13

the that It is right any of these

13:15

crossover and recent years ago. Okay wow if

13:18

only they'd started that younger and they put

13:20

their their nose to the grind. Who could

13:22

they have been? They probably could have been

13:24

decent. With. Francis were literally arguing

13:26

whether he just beat Tyson Fury were literally

13:28

trying to say well you know the odds

13:30

on here that are that bad here that

13:32

he could do the same is Anthony Joshua.

13:34

So yes we are looking at one of

13:37

one all the times that we heard him

13:39

and his team say confident things and maybe

13:41

last to ourselves or said wow you know

13:43

as as as a fun way of chasing

13:45

a bag and justifying it talking up your

13:48

chances. Know. Those chances: Punch Tyson Fury

13:50

right in faced with his left hand and dropped

13:52

him. So. The equation

13:54

as changed. But not to leave the

13:56

Aj out of this discussion, let me

13:58

bring Anthony Joshua in. Look. How

14:01

much would are. Excited and

14:03

insufficient for Friday's fight which is already

14:05

very high. How different would

14:07

it have been in your eyes?

14:09

Is Anthony Joshua had not just

14:12

authored a career. And want to

14:14

see reviving. That would be a little bit harsh since

14:16

you want a bunch of fights before that. But.

14:19

A rejuvenated performance against out of Lean

14:21

by was being the aj of all

14:23

the agent from before the first and

14:25

you're always finds when you nineteenth walking

14:28

him down with two handed punching and

14:30

finishing him around five. Us

14:33

feel like that has employed. Taken.

14:36

Away in gonna chances, it's all. If anything it's

14:39

improve the idea that this could be an

14:41

even better fights, but I almost feel like had

14:43

that not happened. You. Might be

14:45

you might see the other near pick

14:47

on my crazier look because there was

14:49

some doubt around Aj coming into that

14:52

volume. Yeah. I mean remember

14:54

the time when we were doing Mk for

14:56

the shows up? Win! That fight was happening.

14:59

You. Know I. I don't think I was

15:01

alone in thinking old yahoo alter my do

15:03

really well against Joseph Parker our know how

15:05

is he Josh was going to his auto

15:08

volume volume having a really good performance ultimately

15:10

be they could have won the different jurisdiction

15:12

against Isis Juri based on the coasts of

15:14

he had suffered Solving others like him up

15:17

this is not going to go all that

15:19

well. Turns out to support for had a

15:21

great not against the other wilder and it

15:23

was the opposite. To your point Anthony Joshua

15:26

looked tremendous against out of Orleans powerful jab

15:28

backing him up. And that is

15:30

that there may have listen man, the guy had

15:32

to fight to sick. Twice.

15:34

and that was a tall order like

15:37

it's a very difficult pozole to figure

15:39

out it's confusing it's hard to get

15:41

a bead on him he has so

15:43

many different tricks and angles and set

15:45

ups and escapes it's a really thoughtful

15:47

way to fight and it's somewhat reduced

15:49

his physical prowess the volume fight was

15:51

a reminder that person or he might

15:53

have gotten better as a result of

15:56

having to travers or twice different vitamins

15:58

are saying the level of pro You

16:00

have to put into what you're doing to get

16:02

ready for a contest like that and

16:04

then more to the point. I think

16:07

in this case now that he Didn't

16:09

have his brain wasn't so occupied with

16:11

the difficulty of fighting a very cerebral

16:13

opponent volumes good, but he's not who's

16:15

sick He was able to let

16:17

some of that ferocity come back and I really want to say this

16:19

We haven't got to the X's and O's yet But

16:22

one of the things that's really gonna be key for

16:24

Anthony Joshua in this fight is a big problem. I

16:26

think ultimately Potentially anyway for

16:28

Francis that powerful jab. Yes, everyone saw

16:31

the right hand that sent Robert Holenius

16:33

to the land of winning ghosts or

16:35

whatever You've seen it a million times,

16:37

but BC Anthony Joshua powerful athletic prodigious

16:40

jabber very clever with it You see

16:42

him now changing angles off of it

16:44

That is something that I really believe

16:47

fury was able to use to great effect to

16:49

kind of eke out a decision when But you're

16:51

talking about a guy here with a powerful jab

16:53

a consistent jab man, dude He is poised to

16:55

look pretty good here and one more note about

16:57

this BC as you know as well as I

16:59

do Tyson fury

17:01

maybe got surprised a little bit by Francis

17:04

and gone. I don't think Anthony Joshua is expecting

17:07

a surprise I think he's trained for a

17:09

real opponent and That's

17:12

gonna make the job for Francis much harder on

17:14

Friday night Well, look it does bring

17:16

up an interesting equation where we have to rightfully

17:19

Check ourselves when handicapping this fight and

17:21

asking ourselves Isn't gone

17:23

to everything that he looked to be against

17:25

fury and could he actually improve and

17:27

be better now five months later? Or

17:30

was that the ultimate fool's gold perfect night

17:32

aberration? How many times have we seen a

17:35

Buster Douglas type performance although this didn't get

17:37

him the W, right? This was more like

17:39

Balboa versus Creed one in that regard We've

17:42

certainly seen that before but like you

17:44

can ask the same thing about AJ.

17:47

Is that auto Valene? Performance him

17:50

fixing the glitch or is that

17:52

out of Aline performance? The

17:55

new man now the four days

17:57

in the sensory depth perception chamber

18:00

or whatever I just made up. Luke,

18:02

he paid a lot of money to

18:04

sit in absolute darkness and silence for

18:06

four days. And he came

18:08

out hungry, aggressive, chip on his shoulder

18:10

and put that together. Is

18:12

that matchup dependent against Vailin? That's

18:15

the key question when you're talking about

18:17

the X's and O's here, because what

18:19

happens if Inganu gets to

18:21

AJ's chin early? Luke, outside

18:23

of the Klitschko fight where AJ got

18:25

up off the deck like a

18:27

real man at Wembley Stadium in

18:29

front of 90K and finished off

18:32

one of the greatest heavyweight champions

18:34

in history. We've

18:36

seen AJ have a vulnerable, a flash chin,

18:38

but I don't know if we've ever seen

18:40

him outside of that night come

18:42

back mid-fight and fix the issue. A

18:45

lot of times when he gets hurt,

18:48

UC AJ does recover. UC AJ need

18:50

to sort of figure out

18:53

that period of peril

18:55

that he's going through. And it's

18:57

not always the best physical

18:59

reactions on there. Inganu

19:02

could put that Mike Tyson quote

19:04

to life here. You know, that whole, everybody

19:06

has a plan to get punched in the

19:08

face. I do wonder, as revived as AJ

19:11

is, can

19:14

Inganu do the same thing to him

19:16

that he did to Tyson Fury, which

19:18

is hit him so flush, so hard,

19:21

where it's like, I can't win with

19:23

my A-game anymore. This is almost

19:25

survival. Now Fury survived in advance.

19:27

He literally became a tiny fighter

19:29

and heaped out a victory by

19:31

boxing from the outside. What

19:34

does AJ do when he meets that real

19:36

power? Look, that's the $50 million

19:38

question. It's

19:40

a great question. I don't know. I tend to

19:42

think that the one that the fighter we got

19:45

against Otto Valin is the one we're going to

19:47

get here on Friday, but I guess we'll see

19:49

one never really knows. Also again,

19:51

Tyson got hit because he got a

19:53

little bit overzealous

19:55

and paid for it. I

19:57

don't know exactly what kind of game plan we're going

20:00

to get. AJ come with. The

20:02

thing that stands out to me about this

20:04

is the big power of Francis could play

20:06

a role potentially later in the fight.

20:08

I mean it's hard to say. It could play a role anywhere in

20:10

the fight when you've got power like that. But I guess what I

20:12

wanted to point out was I'd be very

20:15

curious to see if... Greetings,

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Dynasty Now and together we'll conquer

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the fantasy football frontier. Your Dynasty

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journey starts here. Good,

21:23

but even mastering the thing. The

21:25

Netflix day is featuring LL Cool J. Fireman

21:28

Island. The Paradise. A

21:31

new NCAA Super Monday, 9th and 7th. CBS

21:34

and Friday, We

21:40

have so many cool, diverse people from

21:43

different backgrounds, different beliefs, different uplinks. And

21:45

it just keeps growing. I

21:49

am a citizen of the United States. I'm a

21:51

hustler. I'm a big Taylor Swift fan. I'm

21:53

the queen of the tribe. I

21:56

am playing whatever role I gotta play. I'm

21:58

gonna play this game for seniors. I

22:00

ain't going down like no punk. I

22:03

need survivors. We've been on TV, X-Men,

22:05

streaming on Animal Forest. We've

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been on TV, X-Men, streaming on Animal Forest. We've

23:00

been on TV, X-Men, streaming on

23:02

Animal Forest. I

23:30

mean, to put out that performance in his pro debut

23:32

against that fighter is crazy. It's

23:40

even crazier now that he's getting Anthony Joshua,

23:42

a revived one. When

23:44

we talk about his ability in short

23:46

time to figure out, to

23:49

use that mind and adapt and adjust, look,

23:52

if there's a negative against his performance against

23:54

Fury, then ultimately the thing that I do

23:56

truly believe prevented him from getting the round

23:58

by round nod over 10. and losing

24:00

that split decision was a lack of

24:03

output, particularly in the second half.

24:05

While Nganu was able to stay a

24:07

one punch counter threat that lowered

24:09

the output of Fury, that forced

24:11

him into a defensive survive in

24:14

advanced mode, he was unable

24:16

to put on enough offense where there was

24:18

no doubt. Was that a stamina

24:20

issue? It's hard to tell. This is

24:22

a different setup in timing than five

24:24

rounds in MMA. How

24:27

much realistically can we expect him to

24:29

fix some of those glitches? Or

24:32

before you answer that, Luke, is

24:35

that the style that most covers

24:37

up for whatever gap in

24:39

experience and technique that

24:41

he'll have against AJ, throwing one punch at

24:43

a time and remaining dangerous? What I'm basically

24:46

saying, if we see Nganu try to take the lead

24:48

and be the power boxer to set up

24:50

his right hand, is that going to open

24:52

him up to get countered in ways that

24:54

maybe we never found doubt in the first

24:56

fight because he was so coiled, so

24:58

dangerous, getting closer to Fury and

25:01

putting that threat of that one punch. I

25:04

think that the way I

25:06

would look at it is slightly differently, which

25:08

is Francis obviously

25:10

got confirmation that his power would work against

25:12

Fury pretty early on in that fight, round three.

25:15

And so I'm not saying that this was the

25:17

deciding factor, but it probably played a role. And

25:19

in general, I just think his game plan was

25:23

less is probably going to be more. Now, in

25:25

the end, he lost the fight because less was

25:27

not. But what I mean to

25:29

say is, if you open yourself up a lot,

25:32

you really create a lot of openings, someone

25:35

who overall has a better skill advantage than

25:37

you is going to be able to take

25:40

advantage of that. In other words,

25:42

if you go up against someone and they're better

25:44

than you, but you're only thinking

25:46

defense, you're only thinking cover up,

25:48

you're only thinking parry, catch,

25:51

move out of the way, shut them down,

25:53

they can't really get anything going either, can

25:56

they? And they can't take advantage

25:58

of anything you're doing. There's no counter-stricing. opportunity.

26:00

Think about for the

26:02

MMA audience, think about someone like

26:04

Yoel Romero. He doesn't have like slip and

26:06

counter. It's really not what he does for

26:08

the most part. For the most part, what

26:11

he does is he just spends long times

26:13

blocking, covering up, not really opening himself and

26:15

then he'll have a big explosive moment or

26:17

something like that. I'm

26:19

not saying that Francis was doing exactly the same,

26:21

but what I am pointing out is BC Francis

26:23

took his time for the most part to make

26:25

sure that he had quality opportunities as best he

26:28

could ascertain them and didn't go

26:30

for like low hanging fruit, didn't go

26:32

for too much stuff, didn't open himself

26:34

any more than he necessarily needed to, which

26:36

kept the fight close. It didn't allow him

26:38

to ultimately persevere in the end, but it

26:41

allowed him to keep it pretty, pretty close.

26:43

I think unless this fight is taking place

26:46

on the inside, you will see something like

26:48

that again. I would be very surprised unless

26:50

he feels like he can do like a

26:52

Andy Ruiz thing BC where he can bait

26:54

him into exchanging and then just win

26:57

some kind of exchange with, you know, but he

26:59

doesn't have Ruiz's hand speed. So that's a little

27:01

weird, but maybe, maybe, you know, open

27:03

it, make him throw with him and then as

27:05

a consequence, you feel like you're just going to

27:07

get the better of that in the end. There's

27:09

that too, but I just feel like you didn't

27:11

see Francis throw a lot because he knew if

27:13

he did, he would be much more easily countered.

27:15

He was judicious than I expect him

27:17

to be judicious. Judicious, judicious. Excuse me on

27:20

Friday. The problem is we've

27:22

never seen in Ghana hurt

27:24

to the level that it compromised him.

27:27

He took an absolute beating from Sipe

27:29

Miocic over the last four rounds of

27:31

their first title fight in

27:33

which he was exhausted yet never

27:35

stopped being a one punch threat, never stopped

27:37

trying to get back into that fight. So

27:39

look, even if Joshua can, it can put

27:42

his will on him, can impart on him.

27:44

I mean, you made a great point about

27:46

the infighting could be the avenue that in

27:48

Ghana really pulls the terms of the fight

27:50

in his direction. Even though I don't look

27:52

at AJ as a great in fighter from

27:55

the standpoint of using his incredible

27:57

physicality, six foot six linebacker In

28:00

fact, Luke, I think we can, we can criticize

28:02

him against Usyk both fights for

28:04

not being the bigger man consistently to

28:07

try to use that as a way

28:09

to slow Usyk down. His

28:11

uppercuts inside though, are Lennox

28:14

Lewis esque. They really are. That is

28:16

the punch that, that got Vladimir Klitschko

28:18

hurt and got him out of there.

28:21

Can that be a weapon against Nganu or is,

28:24

is this image of him basically being Homer Simpson

28:26

in there, even though the meme would be reversed

28:28

because him, knock

28:30

him, you said, do you see that Francis commented on

28:32

social media, that picture of the Simpsons of, of, of

28:36

that Mike Tyson esque character jabbing Homer

28:38

Simpson. It looked exactly like Nganu and

28:40

Fury. In that regard,

28:42

Luke, it is an interesting question. Can

28:45

AJ be the bigger puncher inside in

28:47

ways that does back Nganu up that

28:49

does change the terms of the fight?

28:53

Well, I mean, here's one thing we know about Francis.

28:55

My man has an iron chin. I

28:57

mean, remember that elbow that, that Fury, that

28:59

super illegal elbow that Fury landed on him,

29:01

did nothing to him. We've

29:04

known that big Francis has a monster chin and

29:06

I suspect at some point or another, he might

29:08

need it in this contest. This is a very

29:10

different fight than Tyson Fury. Yeah. It's

29:12

a lot of, it's a big hill to climb. Maybe you're fighting

29:14

a big time boxer who's got a lot of experience. It's the

29:16

same in that sense, but the nuts and bolts of it are

29:18

much, much different. And I do think that that

29:20

could be a powerful weapon, by the way, for either guy on the

29:22

inside. I'm not going to be honest about that. These are

29:25

two very, very powerful guys. And when I spoke to Dewey

29:27

Cooper for MK, he really even noted that. It's

29:29

not, it's the, you know, again, in the general

29:31

sense, it's a very similar fight to Tyson Fury.

29:33

But when you're really thinking about what you're trying

29:35

to solve for, it's quite different. So I

29:38

just feel like if you're Francis, you got

29:40

to put this fight on your terms as

29:42

best you can. And to

29:44

me, that's making Anthony Joshua fight,

29:47

like literally fight you off, getting off the ropes.

29:49

So you're going to be carrying his weight. You're

29:51

going to get your bicep controlled for. He's going

29:53

to be resetting wrestling angles on you, using his

29:56

head to drive you over some Errol Spence tactics

29:58

a little bit along those lines. Let's

30:00

see what he does. Let's see what he does. Alright, let's bring

30:02

this thing home here, Luke. It's time

30:04

to make the prediction. It's time to get realistic.

30:07

The problem is there's a lot of elements

30:10

to this fight that I thought were unrealistic, only

30:12

in God who is proving us wrong step by

30:14

step. I mean, I'm trying to

30:16

imagine what we would say about him if he goes in there

30:18

and knocks out Anthony Joshua. It would

30:22

be so incredible, yet, Luke, I don't want to put

30:24

that pressure on him because the story is already insanely

30:26

incredible. Getting into this fight, as we

30:28

laid out, is can he win it?

30:30

I think he can. But I

30:33

think the odds are telling you

30:35

the true story of this fight,

30:37

the difference in athleticism and obviously

30:40

technique and pure boxing experience. Can

30:42

God get a knockdown? It's certainly possible. It's

30:44

going to be more possible against Joshua than

30:46

he did against Fury, which he did. I

30:49

still think, though, we're headed to a similar

30:51

result. A close surviving win

30:53

for Joshua by decision in which

30:55

he does get off big punches.

30:57

He does gain his respect against

30:59

Nganu. He is also covering

31:02

up and sheltering himself at times, but he

31:04

survives the danger. I think, Luke, we're going

31:06

to look at an 0-2 in Nganu, but

31:09

it's all going to be positive like it was after

31:11

the Fury fight. It's all going to be, okay, he

31:13

didn't get those two against the two greatest heavyweights of

31:15

this modern era. But what about

31:18

Wilder? What about Joseph Parker? What about

31:20

whomever? What about that inevitable Fury rematch

31:22

that I feel like inevitably is going

31:24

to happen in the next 18 months?

31:27

Give me Anthony Joshua by unanimous

31:29

decision, but Nganu will earn his

31:32

respect again. I'll

31:34

take Anthony Joshua as

31:37

well. Anthony Joshua just

31:39

should not lose this fight. Just

31:41

shouldn't. But Francis

31:43

has a way of surprising everybody and beating the

31:45

odds. So give me Anthony Joshua winning. I do

31:47

think in the end he'll get his hand raised.

31:50

I might go split decision, but I also

31:52

think, BC, could he KO

31:54

Francis? I don't think that's the craziest thing in the

31:56

world. Could Francis KO him? It seems unlikely, but I

31:59

wouldn't rule it out. I just feel like in the

32:01

end Anthony Joshua will get his hand raised, but Francis

32:03

is gonna make his mark But this

32:05

is a big deal Friday I believe

32:07

the walk time and for the

32:09

main event is around dinner time on the East

32:12

Coast about 6 p.m. Eastern time Although the card

32:14

begins around 11 a.m. I'll be on HQ live

32:16

afterwards I believe

32:19

we'll have some type of MK post coverage of

32:21

some form but look I'm fired up. I'm

32:23

happy to be here I want to give the people

32:26

what they want, which is full frontal action Like

32:31

the dune popcorn cover, you know what I'm saying like

32:33

yeah popcorn cover I wish I would have got one

32:35

so look at my theater. They didn't offer them like

32:37

at all They were like no we never received them.

32:39

I Don't believe them.

32:42

They must have known where I live. They must

32:44

have known this is something I'm into right? Yeah.

32:46

All right Hey, that was Luke Thomas. This is

32:48

Brian Campbell Mikey Bormouth CBS Sports on the ones

32:50

and twos. Thank you for joining us Big

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announcements to come. It's not an announcement about

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change our lives and yours too. We out

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of here. Thank you Into

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the secretive world of Formula one Behind

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the scenes with two of the sports

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We want to be further ahead. We

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