Sky Sports Boxing’s Johnny Nelson says Anthony Joshua will not be able to ignore Tyson Fury at ringside during Friday’s fight with Francis Ngannou; Joshua and Ngannou meet in a heavyweight clash live on Sky Sports Box Office on Friday; scroll down for booking information
Anthony Joshua looked “stone-faced” and “upset” during the media workout, but cannot afford to show any doubts against Francis Ngannou, says Sky Sports expert Johnny Nelson.
Two-time champion Joshua returns to the ring in Saudi Arabia on Friday night when he takes on former UFC heavyweight world champion Ngannou, live on Sky Sports Box Office, amid his pursuit of another world title shot.
The 34-year-old has cut a focused figure all week in Riyadh in the lead-up to another crucial night in his career, knowing the potential cost of a slip-up against the MMA star.
Sky Sports Boxing’s Nelson admitted he had been left uneasy with Joshua’s body language during a shadow boxing session alongside children from the local community on Tuesday.
“Yesterday AJ was in the ring and stone-faced with kids from the community whereas we had Ngannou in the studio acting, walking, talking like he was the champion and AJ was like the one having his second professional fight,” said Nelson.
“I thought ‘this is the wrong picture’. AJ knows if it goes wrong he’s going to be given a hard time, but you don’t want to be thinking like that, you want to be thinking like a winner. When I saw that I thought ‘I don’t like this off balance’.
“I’m a boxing snob, I’m thinking with Ngannou ‘I don’t want you to beat AJ for our sport’ because I’m a boxing snob. The whole point was to be bringing the community in. You’re stood there like an upset PE teacher.
Watching on from ringside this Friday will be WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, with a potential meeting between the ‘Gypsy King’ and Joshua looming as one of the biggest and most coveted fights in British boxing history.
Fury can attest to the challenge awaiting Joshua having suffered a scare when he was knocked down during a split-decision victory over Ngannou back in October.
He is currently gearing up to face Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship on the rescheduled date of May 18, the winner of which could yet meet Joshua.
“Tyson Fury will be a real pantomime heckler and he’ll try and do it subtly. We’ll know he’s here,” added Nelson.
“It will not affect Ngannou one bit because his stock has risen since that fight. For Anthony Joshua, even though he may want to try and blank him out, he can’t.
“He knows he’s got one of his biggest critics that is going to be there. Tyson isn’t going to be easy on him, he’ll put some pressure on him saying ‘you should do him easy’ or he should say ‘you better watch out’.
“AJ will not be able to ignore him.”
Ngannou stunned the boxing world when he floored Fury with a left hand during the pair’s meeting towards the end of 2023, stringing together 10 solid rounds before coming up second best on the cards, a decision that would garner some push back.
He represents a challenge Joshua cannot afford to take lightly, Nelson has warned.
“Ngannou shouldn’t be able to make such a dent, make such fear in any fighter in the top 10, but he has,” said Nelson. “Is it the new coming, the new era?
“As the weeks keep rolling, my compass was there for Anthony Joshua but it’s slowly going that way and I don’t want to say it out loud because I love this sport.
