Nigerian-British former heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, and Cameroon’s Francis Ngannou have been talking tough ahead of their upcoming heavyweight clash scheduled for Friday in Saudi Arabia.
While Joshua, a former world heavyweight champion, has
has vowed to take down Ngannou via an early knockout, Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champion, has also promised to take down the more experienced Joshua.
In an interview on Monday, the 34-year-old Joshua said a
win over Ngannou in the “Super-Fight” will be a statement to other challengers in the future.
“I believe I can knock him out. Definitely. I would love to knock him out and make a statement,” Joshua told Sky Sports.
“Physically I feel strong, feeling good. Strong enough to get the job done and mentally I’m in a place where I’m ready for war. I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Joshua added.
On his part, Ngannou believes he will triumph over the more accomplished Joshua.
“Almost everyone in this division can knock anyone out. But how do you land or carry that power and energy from first round to fifth round to 10 rounds and still hit someone hard or knock somebody out after all the fatigue? It’s a chess game.
“I’m optimistic and I think, brilliant, I want that. I want someone in front of me who thinks they can knock me out.
“But let’s see how good they really are. I want to be right in front of them, making it difficult for them to achieve their goal and see how much they really want it.
“This Friday, it’s going to go down, so I can’t wait for the opportunity to show my skills and combat this person who thinks he can knock me out,” Ngannou, 37, told journalists upon arriving in Saudi Arabia on Monday.