FRIGHT OF PASSAGE
AJ battles back with title shot in sights
ANTHONY JOSHUA took more than a year to drag himself out of the darkness but has warned Francis Ngannou he is back to his best.
The Englishman lost his heavyweight world titles to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and another defeat in their rematch left his dream of becoming undisputed champion in tatters.
Joshua stormed to his dressing room beaten, bruised and broken after dumping his rival’s belts out of the ring in a frustrated outpouring of grief.
But comeback wins over Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin last year, plus hooking up with Tyson Fury’s ex-trainer Ben Davison, have propelled Joshua back into title contention.
And a win over former UFC champion Ngannou in Saudi Arabia tonight could see him face the winner of Usyk’s clash with Fury for all four belts.
Joshua, 34, admitted he has only recently moved on from the worst night of his career. He said: “I was in a bad place – not a bad place, a bad moment. I had put so much into becoming undisputed. I was working towards that and I just fell short. “The feeling was not good and I had to pick myself back up again. “I changed trainer after that and had a mix-and-match of everything going on. “It took me about a year-and-a-bit to smooth things out and now we are just getting back to basics again. “I felt back to normal against Wallin. I had 10 days off then got back into fight mode.” Ngannou insists he knows exactly which punch could KO Joshua and end his career. He dropped and almost stopped Tyson Fury in October before losing on points. And he knows the same left hook that downed Fury has been AJ’s kryptonite. The Brit was staggered by Dillian Whyte in 2015 and knocked down by Andy Ruiz Jr four years later. Ngannou said: “Every punch that lands will cause problems. I’m sure he doesn’t want to find out, even on the right side.”