Every opponent that Fury and I had in common, I knocked them out -Anthony Joshua

Anthony Joshua is “not at all” seeking to compare his performance on March 8 to Tyson Fury’s fight against Francis Ngannou on October 28.

The former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion is in the minority, of course, because almost everyone who will watch Joshua-Ngannou will want to see if Joshua can defeat Ngannou more convincingly than Fury did, if at all. Ngannou felled Fury with a left hook in the third round, but Fury recovered and boxed his way to a closely watched split-decision victory in their 10-round, non-title fight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Joshua did not predict that Ngannou would be knocked out during or after their press conference in London on Monday. The massive British superstar did highlight, however, that he has knocked out every opponent he and Fury have faced.

“I like to hurt people, definitely,” Joshua told DAZN’s broadcast team after the press conference. “Definitely, I do. I really do. But, if you look at it, every opponent that Fury and I had in common, I knocked them out or stopped them. Yes, every opponent.

“So I just do what I have to do.” In any case, I’ve never competed with him in that sense. But, in terms of facts and statistics, every similar fight we’ve had has resulted in me smashing their face or knocking them out. So, let’s see what happens.

Oleksandr Usyk and Francis Ngannou will be Fury and Joshua’s fifth and sixth professional opponents.

Ukraine’s Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), who has previously defeated Joshua on points in 12-round title fights, will face Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) in a bout that, barring a draw or no contest, would establish boxing’s first truly unified heavyweight champion of the four-belt era on February 17 at Kingdom Arena. Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) and Ngannou (0-1) will square off.

Because Fury will fight Usyk first, Joshua will not have knocked out every opponent they’ve faced as professionals before facing Ngannou.

Joshua stopped Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin (26-2, 14 KOs, 1 NC) in the fifth round of his most recent fight, a 12-rounder on December 23 at Kingdom Arena. In September 2019, Wallin went the distance with Fury, who won a 12-round unanimous decision at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas after suffering a terrible gash over his right eye.

The 2012 Olympic gold winner previously defeated Wladimir Klitschko in the 11th round of their epic fight in April 2017 at Wembley Stadium in London. Joshua felled Klitschko in the fifth round, recovered from a sixth-round knockdown, then knocked Klitschko to the canvas twice more in the 11th round of a fight Joshua led by two scorecards after ten rounds (96-93, 95-93, 93-95).

Klitschko (64-5, 53 KOs), who was 41 when he fought Joshua, retired after suffering his second consecutive defeat.

Fury defeated Klitschko by unanimous decision in a comparably boring fight for Klitschko’s IBF, IBO, WBA, and WBO belts in November 2015 at the ESPRIT Arena in Duesseldorf, Germany. Fury defeated Klitschko by scores of 116-111, 115-112, and 115-112 to end his 9½-year reign as IBF/IBO champion.

Joshua and Klitschko both knocked out England’s Dillian Whyte (29-3, 19 KOs) within the distance.

Joshua defeated Whyte with a right uppercut in the seventh round of the fight before winning his first heavyweight belt.

Six years after Joshua knocked out Whyte in December 2015 at London’s O2 Arena, Fury dropped and stopped Whyte in the sixth round of their April 2022 bout for Fury’s WBC title at Wembley Stadium.

Earlier in their careers, Fury and Joshua defeated American Kevin Johnson.

Joshua stopped Johnson in the second round of their May 2015 battle at the O2 Arena. Johnson went the distance against Fury, who won their 12-round fight unanimously by scores of 119-108, 119-108, and 119-110 in December 2012 at The SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland.