Francis Ngannou shows off colossal power as he smashes punch machine ahead of Anthony Joshua fight

Francis Ngannou reminded everyone just how hard he hits when he took on a punching machine this week.

The Cameroonian MMA star effortlessly hit a maximum score of 999 on a Gym Shark punch machine in London while carrying out his pre-fight media duties ahead of his blockbuster showdown with Anthony Joshua.

Ngannou uploaded a clip to social media of his earth-shattering effort with the caption: "Who can beat my score?"

The scariest part about his attempt was the lack of wind-up in his punch.

Ngannou barely threw his weight behind the shot and yet it sounded like a grenade had gone off when he connected with the hanging bag.

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.

Ngannou will be hoping to land his neutraliser when he squares off with Joshua on March 8.

The fight billed as 'Knockout Chaos' is unlikely to see the final bell as two of the biggest punchers in the worlds of MMA and boxing do battle under the beating Saudi Arabian sun.

According to Eddie Hearn, the winner of the crossover clash is expected to land a mega fight with whoever emerges victorious from Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk's four-belt shoot-out.

After his upcoming clash with Joshua, Ngannou is expected to return to MMA to fight Renan Ferreira in his long-awaited PFL debut.

Ferreira set up the fight by knocking out Ryan Bader in just 21 seconds when they met in the cage last weekend.

“Francis, where you at?” Ferreira said through an interpreter in the immediate aftermath of his stunning stoppage win.

“I’m waiting for you, let’s do this. I’m the champion out here!”