WHO: Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou
That: Heavyweight boxing fight (10 rounds)
When: Friday, March 8, 2024 at 23:00 GMT
Where: Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Francis Ngannou believes his strong performance in his professional boxing debut against Tyson Fury has given him confidence ahead of his fight against British heavyweight Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou will fight Joshua at Riyadh's Kingdom Arena on Friday.
Ngannou made his debut in October, losing a split decision to WBC world champion Fury in a non-title fight.
The Cameroonian-French fighter almost pulled off an upset when he knocked Fury to the canvas with a left hook in that fight.
“I feel confident enough, based on my training and the hard work I put in,” Ngannou said in his pre-fight press conference on Wednesday.
“(The fight against Fury) was a good experience and it definitely guided me better to have proper training.
“Every space that is open to me, I am going to take advantage of… I am not going to leave any stone unturned or any opportunity unexplored.”
Much of the pre-fight narrative assumes a victory for Joshua that would put him in line to fight Fury, provided Fury, the WBC champion, defeats Oleksandr Usyk, the WBA, IBF and WBO champion. in their rescheduled fight for May 18 that will crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 2000.
Ngannou is set to make more headlines in his quick bid to become a boxing champion so soon after dominating the UFC scene.
“I've exposed myself: the guy who'll come next time [Joshua] he knows what to deal with,” Ngannou said after arriving in Riyadh.
“I've lost that element of surprise. So how can I surprise him again? What can I pull out of my sleeve one more time?
Ngannou, who has a 17-3 mixed martial arts record with 12 knockout wins, will again be the underdog when he faces two-time world heavyweight champion Joshua, but the Briton said he would not make the mistake of underestimating his less-experienced opponent.
“He's been boxing. His first dream was to be a boxer, something that people forget. He was part of the Cameroonian team,” Joshua told reporters.
“I know what I'm dealing with, I look at all these little details. I do training, I study films and all that kind of stuff.”
يومان فقط تفصلنا عن النزالات التاريخية العالمية في #KnockoutChaos 🥊🔥
Only two days separate us from the global historical struggles in #KnockoutChaos 🥊🔥
احجز تذكرتك الآن 👇
Book your ticket now 👇https://t.co/JlgdE2C9J1#Great time #RiyadhSeason #برنامج_جودة_الحياة pic.twitter.com/zZYkSmi3f5— موسم الرياض | Riyadh Season (@RiyadhSeason) March 6, 2024
A rags to riches story
Ngannou once toiled in a sand mine, foraged for food to avoid starvation and slept rough in a parking lot, so facing former two-time world heavyweight champion Joshua is just another stop on his journey from poverty to riches.
“I've had a lot of experience in life,” said the soft-spoken, Cameroon-born wrestler with his characteristic understatement.
“I have developed my fighting spirit as high as anyone else.”
Ngannou has accomplished a lot at 37 years old.
The son of a single mother, he had to walk six miles to school and from the age of 10 he shoveled sand from open quarries, and his meager income helped him buy food and books.
“It was a job meant for adults, but we didn't have any options,” Ngannou said of his grueling jobs that paid less than $2 a day.
“I didn't like my life, I felt like I missed my childhood.”
In 2012, at the age of 26 and enthused by the dream of becoming a professional boxer, Ngannou, who now boasts an imposing physique carved from his brutal work in the sand pits, made an escape to Europe and a better life. .
Crammed with others in the back of a van, he crossed the unforgiving Sahara, traveling through Nigeria, Niger and Algeria before arriving in Morocco.
Then, after half a dozen failed attempts, he finally managed to cross the Mediterranean into Spain, where he was quickly jailed for two months for making an illegal crossing.
He took a train to Paris and lived in a parking lot until local boxing coach Didier Carmont found him a place to live and a gym to train.
Despite an early fascination with Mike Tyson, Ngannou graduated in mixed martial arts and in 2021 became UFC heavyweight world champion.
Many were mocked when he chose to make his boxing debut against world champion Tyson Fury in the so-called “Battle of the Baddest” in October last year.
However, skeptics were silenced when Ngannou sent Fury to the canvas in the third round before losing only a controversial split decision.
However, Ngannou's reputation and bank balance soared. She was paid $10 million for his night work, a windfall that has helped the once barefoot Cameroonian buy a luxury home in Las Vegas.
“I can knock out Joshua”
On Friday, Ngannou will return to Riyadh to face Joshua, 34, whose career could take a hit if he loses.
“Of course I can knock Joshua out,” Ngannou said. “I think if I fall on someone, I'll knock them out. The question is how to land. That is the hardest”.
Joshua, a former unified WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight champion, comes into the fight on the back of three consecutive victories.
Before that, however, he lost back-to-back fights to Oleksandr Usyk, who will fight Fury for the undisputed heavyweight title in Saudi Arabia in May.
“This Friday is going down, so I can't wait to have the opportunity to show my skills and fight this person who thinks he can knock me out,” Joshua said of Ngannou.
“I think I can knock him out. Definitely. I would love to knock him out and make a statement.
“He's got to be prepared for the shots coming at him because I'm a man who's going to be standing in front of him, giving him a lot of hell.”
