Tyson Fury was on his feet applauding as his arch-rival sent a message blaring down the road towards the undisputed world heavyweight championship which made his own fraught victory over Ngannou here five months ago sound like a whisper.
Joshua is praying now that Fury takes all the alpha-belts in May by blowing away Oleksandr Usyk, the Ukrainian who ended his own reign as champion.
As dawn broke over the Saudi Arabian desert Joshua could sense himself joining the elite ranks of three-time world title winners.
That is no longer a mirage. This spectacular triumph inside two rounds was as much over himself as over Ngannou, the UFC legend who has crossed over into boxing.
The Cameroonian is reputed to be the biggest puncher in combat sports. That will have to be recalculated against the magnificent right hand blows which floored him thrice in two rounds.
Ngannou got up twice but miracles rarely come in threes. He will have to decide which code of fighting to follow hereon, while any talk of Joshua’s career coming to the end of his career has been silenced.
‘It is what it is,’ said AJ when asked to assess this stunning achievement. ‘It is boxing.’
Modesty forbade him to elaborate but his promoter Eddie Hearn did it for him: ‘This is the best heavyweight in the world and I can’t wait to see him beat Fury.’
They love a late night in the Saudi Kingdom and Joshua gave them a sunrise to stay up for after the ringing of the first bell was delayed until 3.29 in the morning. Even for the travelling Brits, it was well worth staying up all night.
The transition of big time boxing across the globe from one desert, Nevada, to another, Arabia, is not all plain sailing.
Finance is not a problem. Multi-millions went into the fighters’ purses, this promotion and the express construction of the Kingdom Arena.
But work needs to be done to fully convert the good people of Riyadh to the culture which made Las Vegas the capital of prize-fighting.
