Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou: What time is today’s fight, how to watch and undercard line-up

Joshua remained calm but Ngannou retorted: “I’m just getting started, the road is long, I want one more victory over Tyson Fury, and I intend to have a second one. I am really intending to gain a lot of major victories like this [against Joshua].

“You [Fury] are going to sleep in the [ring] again and I’m going to wipe the ring with your a— again. The boxing ring protects you. Outside the ring I’d beat you every day and twice on Sundays.”

Prior to the exchanges, Dewey Cooper, Ngannou’s trainer, explained that his boxer had “made improvements in every aspect” and that on Friday the world would witness “the flaming ferocious fast fists of Francis – which will finish Anthony Joshua.”

Ben Davison, the trainer who is now in his second fight with Joshua, said his man would be taking no chances. “We’ve prepared for every scenario,” Davison said, “and when you think that almost everyone was dismissive [of Ngannou] the last time, I still think it will be a whole new experience. We have not underestjmated him and we have prepared for him to have new layers to his game.”

Joshua was also measured in his assessment of the task ahead. “I am not underestimating Francis,” he said. “His first dream was to be a boxer and people forget that; he has been doing this from a young age. I look at all these details. But the textbook goes out of the window when the bell rings.

“You have to be relentless. It’s written in the stars I’m going to fulfill my destiny.”

Speaking of the investment in boxing by the Saudis, he added: “I feel the pressure, and we need to entertain.

“I’ve shared the ring with Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker [both fighting on the card] now I’m sharing the ring with Francis. One day I will share the ring with Tyson [Fury]. Let’s go, the best man will always win. It’s not rocket science.”
If Joshua defeats Ngannou on Friday night here, all talk will switch to the outcome of Fury against Oleksandr Usyk in May as they battle the undisputed heavyweight crown, and the prospect of that elusive, much vaunted blockbuster between Joshua and Fury. It may just happen.

Why Joshua vs Ngannou is no gimmick