Follow the latest reaction and news after Anthony Joshua’s thrilling display against ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia

Anthony Joshua produced one of the finest performances of his career in a devastating knockout of Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia.

Joshua, a former two-time unified heavyweight champion, took a step closer to a blockbuster undisputed fight against Tyson Fury with a superior performance to his rival, who was made to work by the Cameroonian on his debut last October.

Joshua dropped the former UFC champion twice before a crushing third knockdown pinned Ngannou to the canvas in an emphatic stoppage.

The 34-year-old confirmed he is now in line to face the winner of Fury against Oleksandr Usyk, who beat ‘AJ’ twice previously. Follow the latest reaction and relive all the action from Knockout Chaos below:

Anthony Joshua sends message to Tyson Fury with apparent gun gesture
Anthony Joshua has expressed his desire to fight Tyson Fury next, having knocked out Francis Ngannou in devastating fashion on Friday.

Ex-UFC champion Ngannou made his boxing debut in October, dropping Fury in a shocking moment before losing a controversial decision. The Cameroonian did not come close to replicating that performance against Joshua, however, suffering a brutal second-round loss.

Briton Joshua, 34, dropped Ngannou, 37, in round one and did the same twice in round two. The final knockdown proved decisive, with Ngannou out cold on the canvas in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Joshua then seemed to make a gun gesture at his preferred next target, Fury, who was sat in the front row at the Kingdom Arena.

Speaking in the ring after the win, “AJ” said: “If that was me [losing], you’d be saying, ‘Joshua should retire.’ I don’t know if I’m in my peak. I’m pushing day by day, who knows where it will take me? In five years, I won’t be fighting no more, this will be a distant memory.

Tyson Fury provides update on Anthony Joshua fight: ‘There’s still a long way to go’
Tyson Fury has provided an update on a showdown with Anthony Joshua after his rival’s devastating knockout of Francis Ngannou.

The heavyweight world champion watched ringside in Riyadh as ‘AJ’ dispatched the former UFC champion in two dominant rounds with a crushing performance.

Ngannou was dropped heavily twice before the emphatic finish, sparking excitement over a potential meeting between the two British rivals.

Fury is in line to face Oleksandr Usyk, who beat Joshua twice previously, in an undisputed title fight in May, but Joshua reiterated his desire to meet the winner in the immediate aftermath of his latest victory.

Well, that was quite the spectacle and worth the wait.

Both boxers, and fans around the world, were kept waiting by the undercard bouts.

How it was worth every second of the time spent in anticipation.

That final right-hand punch from Anthony Joshua will be talked about and replayed for years.

It was as destructive and powerful a punch as you could imagine.

The damage had been done by the previous two blows and Francis Ngannou had no energy left to respond to the build-up to the knockout blow as Joshua lined up his man.

We hope you enjoyed our build-up – not quite to the level of Joshua’s – and the coverage of the fight itself.

It was a blockbuster performance from the man who would be king of the heavyweight division.

A huge fight awaits Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Uysk, which will set up the most mouthwatering of fights after Joshua’s display in Riyadh.

Saturday and Sunday are packed with T20 international cricket and Premier League football, so please tune in if you can.

Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou have both put their thunderous power to the test for fun in recent years.

When a boxer appears on mainstream TV to measure their strength, they are usually not allowed to leave until they have used the famous ‘punch machine challenge’, especially when they’re a heavyweight champion.

AJ did not disappoint during an appearance on the Graham Norton show in 2017.

As soon as he saw the machine, he took his suit jacket off and strolled over to have a turn.

He graciously let fellow guests – actors Rachel Weisz, Martin Freeman and Greg Davies – go first.

They scored 182, 594 and 632 respectively before Joshua turned up and smashed it with his right hand.

He scored 848 – breaking the existing record of 787.

Ngannou took his turn on Gym Shark’s punch machine in London while carrying out his pre-fight media duties for the AJ clash.

This was on a separate machine and so their results are not directly comparable.

However, Ngannou barely threw his weight behind the shot and yet when he connected he effortlessly hit a maximum score of 999.

Ngannou uploaded a video to social media of his earth-shattering punch with the caption: “Who can beat my score?”

Back in 2018, Ngannou broke the world record for the hardest punch ever recorded at 129,161 units on a PowerKube, which measures the power of a punch by recording its force, accuracy and speed.

“Francis Ngannou has the world record for the most powerful punch, his punch is the equivalent to 96 horsepower which is equal to getting hit by a Ford Escort going as fast as it can,” UFC president Dana White said at the time.

“And it’s more powerful than a 12-pound sledgehammer swung full force from overhead. Holy sh*t!”

However, his record has since been broken by UFC middleweight Joe Pyfer, who landed a thudding shot that registered at 170,218 units – 31.7 per cent harder than Ngannou’s.

The true comparison of Joshua and Ngannou will of course ultimately come on March 8, when they meet in the boxing ring.

Meanwhile, the record on the punch machine at talkSPORT Towers was recently broken by an up-and-coming cruiserweight star.

Aloys Junior, Britain’s answer to Mike Tyson, demonstrated his raw power on a visit to our studios.

Junior hit a stunning score of 982 on the hanging bag to jump to pole position on our leaderboard ahead of heavy-handed heavyweight Johnny Fisher.