Tag: Joshua

Tyson Fury is expecting rival Anthony Joshua to have any easier time of it against Francis Ngannou than he did.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou, 37, will be having just his second professional boxing bout against England’s Joshua, 34, following his 10-round split decision loss to Fury in their non-title bout last October. Joshua and Ngannou will clash at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on tonight.

 “I am expecting AJ to win, for sure. He’s a boxer, isn’t he? A former two-time world champion,” Fury said during an interview with IFL TV.

 “I wouldn’t go on my fight at all. It’s a totally different fight, and styles make fights. I didn’t have a good performance, as we all know, it was a piece of s*** from me.

 “I’m not complaining, things happen in life and you get on with them.”

Fury suggested that his poor performance flattered Ngannou, who he thinks is a tough, but not particularly talented boxer after their back-and-forth bout last year.

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Meanwhile, Ngannou put Tyson Fury in his place at Wednesday’s pre-fight press conference for his looming bout with Anthony Joshua.

After Ngannou and Fury got into a heated verbal exchange Tuesday night at Turki Al-Sheikh’s residence, the tension between the pair continued during the pre-fight press conference. Fury was seated front row and was heckling while Ngannou answered questions. and that prompted the former UFC heavyweight champ to issue a fiery response.

Ngannou reminded Fury that he was the only one to score a knockdown in their October bout, which Fury won by controversial split decision. Ngannou expects to run it back one day, and when he does, he doesn’t intend to leave anything to chance.

 “I had the first one over him, and I still need to have the second one – it’s true,” Ngannou said. “You’re going to sleep in the (ring) again, and I’m going to wipe the ring with your ass again. You wiped the ring with your ass. There was blood in the ring, sticking to your pants.”

As the exchange continued, Ngannou reminded Fury that the only reason he has confidence is because any fights between them will be under boxing rules. If it were to take place under almost any other combat rule set, Ngannou said it would get very ugly.

 “I’ll tell you: Your only chance is in the boxing ring with the boxing rules,” Ngannou said. “When you step out of that ring, you better stay five meters away before you talk your sh*t, because if I lose it, you’re going to have a real bad time, my friend. So, respect the fact boxing is protecting us and the rule of boxing is protecting us, because without that, you are nothing in front of me. I’ll beat you every day – twice on Sunday.”

Yet Daniel Mark Hardy,  English former mixed martial artist who fought in the welterweight division, has warned  that  the former world champion, Joshua,  could ‘psychologically unravel’ under pressure on fight night.

In just the second fight of his professional boxing career, the former UFC champion takes on Joshua in Saudi Arabia having dragged Fury into deep waters on his debut six months ago.

A monstrous left hook put ‘The Gypsy King’ down in the third round, with Fury climbing back up to his feet to continue. Despite heavy pressure from the Cameroonian, a battered and bruised Fury sealed a narrow split decision win.

While Fury was able to regroup after being dropped, former UFC fighter and the PFL’s head of fighter operations Hardy is not convinced Joshua can do the same.

The Briton has been only been dropped by two of his opponents to date – once in his sublime victory over Wladimir Klitschko with Andy Ruiz Jr sending him down four times on a crazy night in New York five years ago.

While Joshua has shown his resolve since then, Hardy doubts he has the ‘mental fortitude’ required to deal with Ngannou’s destructive power and pressure.

“We know how dangerous Ngannou is with his hands and know how strong he is physically. That is going to be unnerving for Anthony Joshua early on in this fight,” Hardy told Metro.co.uk.

 “If AJ tries to tangle and lock up with him, Ngannou is going to feel bigger and stronger than anyone else he has ever done that with. If he gets hit, he is going to realise even with his guard up, he could take concussive punches that could put him on the canvas.

“I stand by this; I don’t think AJ gets back up off the canvas with the same kind of confidence we saw from Fury. I don’t know if AJ has the same mental fortitude to deal with this same kind of pressure.

“AJ is still in the process of rebuilding his own career. It is a massive, massive risk for him and I think that will dawn on him on fight day.”

Joshua is on a run of three straight victories, putting back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk behind him with a win on Friday to leave him within touching distance of another world title shot.

The former Olympian was largely untroubled in each of those fights last year but Hardy warns Ngannou will be aiming to seek and destroy from the opening bell.

Should the former UFC star have success in those early stages, Hardy warned  Joshua will be ‘eaten alive’.

“If I’m in AJs camp, I’m preparing him for an early storm,” he said. “But if he is not prepared to take those big punches, the whole thing psychologically could unravel very quickly. He is the only one who has got the pressure of the occasion on his shoulders. Coaches and promoters share it, but AJ is the one who falls off the precipice if he loses to Ngannou.

“He is the only one who can really be honest with himself and feel that pressure. I would be preparing for him to be able to regroup because he doesn’t want to be hitting the canvas and not getting up with confidence. Because in that situation, Ngannou eats him alive.”

Victory for Ngannou will present him with the chance to become a world champion in MMA and boxing with Saudi eager for Friday’s winner to meet Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk after their undisputed title fight in May.

But there is still unfinished business in the world of mixed martial arts. Ngannou left UFC while still in possession of the heavyweight title in January last year, joining the Professional Fighters League [PFL] six months later.

Once his business with Joshua is done, he is expected to make his debut for the promotion against Renan Ferreira, who walked through Ryan Bader in the main event of PFL vs Bellator in Saudi Arabia last month.

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday before the latter’s heavyweight fight with Francis Ngannou on Friday.

The Britons have rarely crossed paths despite their long-running rivalry.

Fury took aim at Ngannou for suggesting he won their fight in October, but did not directly speak to Joshua.

“Tyson was on golden form going round interrogating everybody, he had a few words with Francis Ngannou,” promoter Eddie Hearn told BBC Sport.

Joshua, Fury and Ngannou took a picture together, alongside footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and Saudi powerbroker Turki Alalshikh.

“They didn’t say too much. There’s definitely a kind of ‘that’s him over there’ kind of mentality,” Hearn said of the interaction between Joshua and Fury.

“I think they know it’s only a matter of time until they meet [in the ring].”

Alalshikh, as he has done for previous fight nights in Saudi, hosted all the boxers, including Joseph Parker and Justis Huni who are on the undercard, as well as promoters Hearn and Frank Warren.

With the riches of the Saudi kingdom behind him, Alalshikh has been credited with changing the landscape of boxing.

He has resolved conflicts and rivalries between fighters and promoters, including Hearn and Warren, and there is increased hope Fury and Joshua could finally happen.

WBC champion Fury arrived in Riyadh earlier on Tuesday and is expected to be ringside on Friday as his brother, 27-year-old Roman Fury, is fighting on the undercard.

“I think years ago that might have affected AJ, but not anymore. Now he’s just laser focused,” Hearn said.

“Be interesting to see what Tyson Fury does at ringside.”

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As Saudi Arabia faces repeated accusations of using elite level sport to deflect conversation away from its poor human rights record, their investment in boxing does not appear to be slowing down.

While the interest of the locals is questionable, with a lack of fans attending the fight week festivities so far, the money being pumped into the build-up is staggering.

The production levels for the promotional videos – lending to the arcade fight computer game theme – would put many Hollywood trailers to shame.

The purses have not been revealed but Forbes sensationally report, external Joshua could earn $50m with Ngannou taking home $10m.

Anthony Joshua dismissed suggestions that Francis Ngannou is a ‘gimmick’ opponent and believes the former UFC champion was wrongly denied a victory over Tyson Fury.

Joshua has won his last three fights, the most recent against Otto Wallin in a dominant five-round win in December, and will face Ngannou in their non-title contest in Friday’s crossover super-fight in Saudi Arabia, live on Sky Sports Box Office.

The mixed martial arts star made his professional boxing debut in October last year where he knocked down Tyson Fury in the third round only to be denied victory as Fury escaped with a contentious split-decision win.

“I was watching the Fury and Ngannou fight from home and from what I saw I thought he won,” Joshua told Sky Sports. “It’s not a gimmick, it’s not something that’s benefiting the broadcasters, it’s not just a fight for entertainment purposes.

“This is a serious fight with someone who is prepared and understands the dynamic of boxing and he’s putting up a good fight against the apparently generational great. So, I look at it now as something completely different.

“To be classified as a world-class heavyweight I would say that you have to stay there for a period of time. But I think that he’s an athlete with a lot of potential.

“I think he should stay in boxing in my opinion, he’s got great potential to make waves.

“In terms of the word ‘gimmick’ we can get rid of that. In terms of the whole crossover aspect of what boxing is, it’s not that Ngannou was a gimmick or Fury was a gimmick, but the whole MMA crossing over into boxing I looked at it as a gimmick, but now I can see that there are certain fighters in the MMA world that can box, and he’s one of them.

“It’s good news for us fighters and good news for broadcasters because they’ve got me and Ngannou going at it in a few days.”

Great Britain’s Joshua suffered successive defeats to Oleksandr Usyk before winning his three consecutive fights whilst Ngannou was the reigning UFC heavyweight champion before he left the promotion to begin his boxing career and has 17 wins and three losses from his time in MMA.

 “My mentality is that I’m fighting a talented fighter, like every fight there is massive jeopardy and I’ve got to take it seriously,” Joshua continued.

 “At the time I looked at it more as a benefit for the broadcasters and sponsors. Now I look at it as someone who is serious about fighting, serious about MMA and serious about boxing.

“That’s why I’m here, because I love the same thing he does, I love to fight. When I saw the fight with Tyson Fury I thought: ‘He knows what he’s doing, he can handle himself.’

“A lot of people say he won the fight and I thought this is a great challenge for me because I need to figure out more about myself, if it’s not a challenge then I am going to stick to what I know best and I’m going to stay in my comfort zone.

“But when I saw the fight he put up against Fury, I thought this is a challenge which has driven me to push on and push on from my career so it’s going to have massive benefits for me in the long-run as well.”

Before Fury fought Ngannou, he said the whole of boxing’s reputation is on his shoulders, but Joshua doesn’t feel that kind of pressure.

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“I haven’t thought of it that way because it’s only my pressure. I don’t put that pressure on myself and I don’t have that thought about anything. I just think about winning and doing what I need to do, that’s my mentality,” Joshua added.

“It’s a fight, it’s a 50/50 fight. Anything can happen. Crazier things have happened before. It is what it is. It’s a great opportunity for me to go back to work. If I didn’t take this opportunity that’s presented to me, when would I be fighting next?

“When you look at it, I’m not at the start of my career, I’m not at the middle of my career, I’d say I’m probably towards the end of my career.

“Call it whatever you want to call it, I’m just happy to be at work and doing my job and I can’t wait for the next opportunity that presents itself.”

Boxing fans will have the choice of two TV channels to watch from when Anthony Joshua fights Francis Ngannou.

AJ returns on March 8 against the ex-UFC champion-turned heavyweight boxing star in Saudi Arabia.

And it has been confirmed that BOTH Sky Sports and DAZN will air the bout on pay-per-view.

But the price point is yet to be confirmed.

Joshua was a long-time Sky superstar until he followed promoter Eddie Hearn over to streaming service DAZN.

But Saudi boxing boss Turki Alalshikh has been fronting huge money for rivalling promoters and networks to work together.

When Joshua, 34, defeated Otto Wallin, 32, in December it was available on both DAZN and TNT Sport PPV.

And before Fury, 35, was forced out of his unification against Oleksandr Usyk, 37, this month, it was due to be on DAZN, TNT and Sky in a historic first.

Joshua had signed a deal to face Deontay Wilder, 38, in March but the American suffered a shock defeat to Joseph Parker, 32.

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And after Ngannou, 35, was denied a rematch by Fury, he was also left to look elsewhere.

It paved the way for the humongous heavyweight pair to collide, leaving even AJ’s promoter Hearn a nervous wreck.

He told GiveMeSport: “You have to be disciplined. You have to be brave as you always have.

“And when the time comes, you have to make it count and you have to hurt this guy, and you have to take him out.

“And like I said, he’s a man-mountain of a guy. I think it’s going to be a great fight.

“I’m nervous, very nervous, but I believe AJ will do the business. I think if AJ is disciplined, but brutal, I think he wins the fight by stoppage.”

Eddie Hearn has insisted Anthony Joshua is “one win away” from challenging for the undisputed heavyweight crown.

It is a huge couple of months ahead for the division, which will have an undisputed champion for the first time in 24 years when Tyson Fury fights Oleksandr Usyk on February 17.

Fury, perhaps fortunate not to lose to Francis Ngannou last year, brings the WBC to the table, while Usyk’s WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO straps will be on the line.

Just a few weeks later, Joshua continues on what he hopes is a path back to the top of the division, as he fights Ngannou on March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

At a press conference earlier this week, Turki Alalshikh, who has already brought a number of big fights to Saudi Arabia, confirmed his desire for Joshua or Ngannou to fight the winner of the undisputed bout.

“You will see the result of this match will connect about the result of the 17 February – this is our idea,” he said.

Read Also: Joshua, Ngannou to rumble Mar. 8 in Riyadh.

Lennox Lewis, the last man to hold all of the heavyweight belts, claimed on X that wins over Otto Wallin and Ngannou should not be enough for Joshua to challenge Fury or Usyk, as he suggested the winner of Joseph Parker’s bout with Zhilei Zhang, on the March 8 card, deserved the opportunity.

In response, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn posted: “Break down whatever you want.

“His excellency confirmed the plan. Winner of #JoshuaNgannou v winner of #FuryUsyk – The dream has always been Undisputed and we are one win away for challenging for it.

“No problem with you preferring Parker or Zhang getting a shot at Undisputed over AJ!”

Lewis then suggested the two-way rematch clause in place for the Fury-Usyk fight would mean Joshua, or any other fighter, will have to wait to get their shot at the belts.

However, Hearn is confident that will not prove an obstacle to a hugely-anticipated fight between Fury and Joshua, should both win their upcoming bouts.

Nigerian Anthony Joshua will be fighting with a former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, in Saudi Arabia.

This was contained in an announcement made by Matchroom and Queensberry on Friday night, where it was stated that the fight would take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in March.

According to the statement, date for the fight will be confirmed next week, with a press conference planned for January 15 in London.

Daily Mail reports that the proposed date for the Joshua vs Wilder bout was March 9, with both parties signing on the dotted line ahead of their respective bouts in December.

Therefore, many believe the bout between AJ and French-Cameroonian, Ngannou, will replace the proposed fight between the British heavyweight and Wilder.

Read Also: Joshua to face ex-UFC fighter Ngannou

AJ stated his interest in fighting Ngannou after the former UFC star broke into the WBC’s top 10 heavyweight rankings after his first professional boxing match.

No one gave Ngannou anything other than a puncher’s chance on his boxing debut against Tyson Fury last October.

Joshua continued his quest to return to the top of the heavyweight division with a dominant five-round win over Otto Wallin on December 23 but expectations that he would next face Deontay Wilder evaporated when the American lost to Joseph Parker on the same card.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou knocked down Tyson Fury in his first professional boxing bout last October, although the latter still won a split decision, and is now ranked in the WBC’s top 10 of heavyweight contenders.