Joshua: Ngannou is no ‘gimmick’ - he beat Fury
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 fiveround 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.
“I believe I can knock him out,” Joshua exclusively told Sky Sports.
“Definitely. I would love to knock him out and make a statement. “Physically I feel strong, feeling good. Strong enough to get the job done and mentally I’m in a place where I’m ready for war. I’m looking forward to the challenge. “Mentally I don’t worry so much about my opponent and look at what my opponent can bring to me and think, ‘how can I overcome these challenges they present?’ I work really hard to up my game and look forward to showing everything I’ve worked on.”