Eddie Hearn reacts to Francis Ngannou seemingly attributing Anthony Joshua loss to early arena arrival

Eddie Hearn recently reacted to Francis Ngannou's implication that his knockout loss to Anthony Joshua was somehow linked to arriving early at the fight arena.

Earlier this month at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ngannou's second outing in the boxing ring ended in disaster, as he experienced a brutal knockout by the former two-time unified heavyweight champion in the second round, following two knockdowns earlier in the short-lived match.

During a recent interview on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, the former UFC heavyweight titleholder aired his grievances about the postponed start of his fight, implying it had a detrimental effect on his performance against 'AJ'.

'The Predator' asserted, feeling misled after spending several hours waiting in the dressing room, having been called to the arena well ahead of his opponent:

"What I think something happened is that they got me to the arena very early, my pickup time was 10:30 PM. But when we arrived at the arena, they told us we were scheduled around 1:45 AM. We receive a schedule, and for some reason, I'm there at the Arena at least two hours before [Joshua]. They do this kind of trick to make you tired. I didn't realize how important it was."

Check out Francis Ngannou's comments below (5:32):

Joshua's promoter recently commented on a boxing-related Instagram page that shared Ngannou's remarks. Hearn seemingly took a jab at the Cameroonian's KO loss, suggesting that he hasn't fully recovered from it:

"I'm not sure he has come round yet."

Check out Eddie Hearn's comment below (now deleted):

In the opening round, the Brit successfully knocked down Ngannou when 'The Predator' transitioned into a southpaw stance. Moving into the second round, 'AJ' unleashed a devastating overhand right, striking Ngannou's temple with such force that he began to drift into unconsciousness as he collapsed onto the canvas.

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Francis Ngannou discloses series of medical checkups following KO loss

During the same interview with Ariel Helwani, Francis Ngannou stated that after his knockout loss to Anthony Joshua, he underwent through medical assessments due to concerns about possible consequences. He said:

"I'm feeling good, but I did get some medical checks, and everything is okay. I didn't feel like getting any concussion, in fact, I just went to the hospital to double check in case because I've never been in that situation, and the last punch was quite violent." [0:58]