AJ has now surely set up a world title bout against the winner of Tyson Fury’s undisputed fight against Oleksandr Usyk this spring, which would see him get the chance to become a three-time world champion.

Joshua was humble in his victory, praising Ngannou and telling him to remain in the sport, but took a dig on social media as he celebrated his victory.

Anthony Joshua mocked Francis Ngannou on social media following his statement victory

Joshua (right) produced a stunning KO victory over Ngannou (left) in their highly-anticipated bout on Friday

The British star sent Ngannou crashing to the canvas on three occasions, inside two rounds, during the heavyweight clash

He shared a video of his knockout punch on his accounts, boasting his victory to his 16.3million Instagram followers, 3.2m X followers and his 7.4m Facebook followers.

The post was captioned: ‘Predator to prey,’ with ‘predator’ crossed out, in reference to Ngannou’s nickname.

He did, however, also pay tribute to his opponent, sharing a selfie of the two captioned: ‘Respect my guy (handshake emoji). African giants (world emoji).’

Joshua had maintained a focused approach throughout fight week, looking laid back and convinced he was on his way to victory in the bout.

He delivered on his promise, and praised his opponent post-fight, but delivered another bizarre post-event monologue on the microphone following victory.

He did pay tribute to the MMA star in the ring after the bout, telling him to stay in boxing

He also shared a snap of the pair online, branding both men ‘African giants’ and paying ‘respect’

Inside the ring, Joshua said: ‘It is what it is. What I was saying, en route to the championship, you should stay focused. I stepped aside from the mission, I thought it was for the broadcasters for entertainment.

‘But I saw him against Fury and thought, “damn, he can fight”. We welcomed him, he’s a great champion. It doesn’t take away from his capability. He can come again, I told him he can stay in boxing. It’s up to him.

‘The Ben Davison performance centre [is the reason for my improvement]. I’m hungry, stay hungry and all that good stuff. I don’t know [if I’m coming into my peak], it only takes one shot, if that was me, you’d be saying, ‘”Joshua should retire”.’