Francis Ngannou makes “exposed” Anthony Joshua admission ahead of super-fight

Ngannou will take on Joshua in March, less than five months after dropping and almost stopping Tyson Fury on his professional boxing debut, Martin Domin reports for the Mirror.

Francis Ngannou has admitted he has lost the element of surprise ahead of his clash with Anthony Joshua.

Ngannou made his professional boxing debut against Tyson Fury last October, dropping the heavyweight world champion in the third round before losing a controversial split decision. Ngannou has agreed to fight former two-time champion Joshua in Saudi Arabia – but knows his rival will have an advantage over Fury.

“The most complex now is AJ because I haven’t fought him,” he told Mail Online. “I watched the fight, and he looked good. He showed all the right signs even though Wallin wasn’t threatening anything. AJ did his job and did great. Right after the fight, I started to think about what could be next.

“I realized next time, there won’t be the surprise element. Now I’m exposed, and everyone will be very prepared. Tyson didn’t know exactly what he was getting into. That will make my life more difficult. I don’t think the hardest puncher means anything. Anybody can knock anybody out in the heavyweight division. The most important thing is to find your spot and know your punch.”

Ngannou insists he was denied victory against Fury and has taken a dislike to boxing politics. “I’ve been saying this from that night, but I was robbed,” he added. “But I think I also brought a lot from that fight. The Top 10 and all that stuff, to be honest, I’m skeptical about getting involved in boxing politics. I’m just here to figure out the good fights and to get them. What happens a lot is boxing politics control some fights and stop great fights from happening because everyone is concerned about the rankings or positions.

“They need to win, be at 20-0, even if it means they haven’t fought anybody. That’s certainly something I don’t care about. In combat sports, it’s always risky to take a fight. There’s a risk you can lose – of course, you want to win. When you want to be a world champion, you must face the most ferocious fighters, elite fighters with the same dream as you. To keep your dream alive, you have to kill somebody.”