Francis Ngannou thinks Tyson Fury can handle a punch better than Anthony Joshua.

Ngannou, the ex-UFC champion, impressed fight fans with his professional boxing debut against Fury in October, putting the heavyweight champion on the canvas in the third round. Now, he’s getting ready for his second professional fight against Joshua on March 8.

Despite flooring Fury in his previous fight, Ngannou still lost by just one point. It was a confusing call that some people didn’t agree with. Ngannou now hopes that if he beats Joshua, he might get to duke it out with Fury once more after the Gypsy King’s heavyweight unification clash with Oleksandr Usyk is settled in May.

When Ngannou was asked if he thought Joshua could take a hit like the one Fury did, Ngannou told DAZN: “I have a doubt about that, Tyson has showed that he is very resilient. I saw him come back from a knockdown that you wouldn’t believe somebody would come back from. I think he is probably one of the most resistant people out there.”

But Ngannou also promised not to underestimate Joshua: “That is not a disrespect to AJ. I don’t believe that Joshua will take what Tyson did. Even going to the fight, I knew that even if I knock him down I will not get excited. That it wouldn’t mean anything because he always comes back, so I had to prepare for a very endured person. Psychologically that’s how I was.

In his debut in October, he astonishingly floored Fury but it was not enough to avoid a controversial split-decision loss.

Ngannou still takes confidence from the performance and knockdown – which he doubts Joshua would have come back from.

He said in a DAZN face to face: “Yeah, I have a doubt about that. Tyson showed that he’s very resilient.

“I saw him come back from a knockdown that you wouldn’t believe.

“So I think he’s probably one of the most resistant person out there, and that’s not a disrespect to AJ.

“I don’t believe that AJ would take what Tyson did.”

But Joshua – with a stoic glare – hit back at Ngannou: “Who hasn’t knocked Tyson down? So many people have knocked Tyson down.”

Fury, 35, has been floored seven times in his career but bounced back to his feet every time to remain undefeated.