Francis Ngannou shockingly admits he will 'struggle' to go 10 round distance with Anthony Joshua
06/03/2024 21:14
Francis Ngannou has made a shocking admission ahead of his fight with Anthony Joshua.
The former UFC heavyweight titleholder is set to test himself in the boxing ring once again when he faces AJ at 'Knockout Chaos' in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Friday night.
Not only is Ngannou testing himself against a former two-time world champion in his second fight, but he's also agreed to fight for longer than he's used to in MMA.
Most of his UFC bouts were scheduled for three five-minute rounds.
When Ngannou reached the title level, his fights were extended to five five-minute rounds, and he was forced to go the 25-minute distance in his lone defence against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022.
Many people expected him to gas out like Conor McGregor did when he fought Floyd Mayweather, but the 37-year-old was able to push Tyson Fury to the brink of defeat during his boxing debut last October.
Still, Joshua's trainer, Ben Davison, thinks he will struggle to keep up with the Englishman, who is seemingly planning to push the pace when they fight this weekend.
Davison's belief about his suspect cardio was put to Ngannou during an eventful pre-fight press conference on Wednesday afternoon – and the Cameroonian KO artist openly admitted it is a concern for him.
"Yes, that's true," Ngannou said.
“I will struggle to do 10 rounds. I struggle to do 10 rounds, and if anyone doesn't struggle to 10 rounds, you're something else, you aren't human.
“You know, I'm human, everybody gets tired after 10 rounds. That's right, I struggled, and I have no problem with it because it's a learning process.
"I'm here to learn. I struggled in my first fight with Tyson Fury and in fact, in that fight, I was questioning myself like, 'What will happen when I get in the third round? How will I feel?’
“I've never been in a professional boxing match for four rounds, six rounds, or eight rounds – and that was 10 rounds!
"So, yes, I did struggle. But I think [Fury] struggled as well, maybe more."
Ngannou went on to get into a heated row with Fury, who was sitting in the front row and didn't take kindly to the ex-UFC star declaring himself the true winner of their fight.
They may get a chance to settle the score later this year as the winner of Joshua vs Ngannou is being lined up for a shot at the undisputed heavyweight championship.
Fury and Usyk will meet in a historic four-belt clash on May 18 and a potential rematch before the winner fights Joshua or Ngannou.
