Francis Ngannou has believes any nerves shown by Anthony Joshua are a good sign before their crossover clash.
Ngannou fights for the second time as a professional boxer against former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua in just under two weeks. The ex-UFC champion stepped in the ring for the first time last October against Tyson Fury and silenced his critics by putting Fury down and only losing by a single point in a controversial decision.
” Anthony Joshua never trash talks, his personality is more serious unlike Tyson Fury who is more like a playboy. I think when it comes to fighting, they both know how to fight and that’s what I’m focused on. He might have been nervous but that doesn’t mean anything, in fact I think being nervous means he is taking things very serious. It’s very important because he’s going to do his best to show up on the day with everything,” Ngannou told Mirror Fighting .
Joshua has only been dropped by Wladimir Klitschko and Andy Ruiz Jr in his well-accomplished career, but Ngannou doesn’t think the Brit will be able to get up from a similar punch that Fury took in their fight. Joshua refused to say whether he thinks he can stop Ngannou in their face-to-face interview but the Cameroonian believes his rival is just being diplomatic.
“Refusing to say doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want it. I think that he’s just being sceptic. Even when you say it doesn’t mean it’s going to [happen]. I don’t usually fight looking for the knockout expect for one and it didn’t end well. The knockout is something that will come naturally, but based on the statistics or style they can assume it’s like going to end in a knockout. Overall, it’s not something you can guarantee because you don’t know what’s going to happen in the fight,” he added.
Ngannou is seemingly hoping Fury can win his rescheduled undisputed fight against Oleksandr Usyk in May as he wants a rematch with his old rival if he gets past Fury. The 37-year-old is more interested in avenging his defeat to Fury than being crowned undisputed champion as he doesn’t want to surround himself with the politics that come with winning world titles.
