It appears as though Francis Ngannou is extremely confident as he recently made a bold prediction ahead of his heavyweight boxing clash against Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia this Friday.
The event, billed as 'Knockout Chaos', will see the former UFC heavyweight champion return to the ring and take on another top heavyweight boxer in a title eliminator bout, with the winner challenging the winner of Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk. 'The Predator' proved he can hold his own with the top heavyweight in the world when he fought Fury last October and will look to earn a massive win against 'AJ'.
During the pre-fight press conference ahead of Friday's event, Ngannou noted that his cryptic messages are always planned and have hidden meanings, which the media witnessed during his open workout session. He predicted that he will get his hand raised this time and mentioned that he will take advantage of every opening available rather than being reserved. He said:
"Everything is a clue. I mean, every space that I have an opening, I'm going to hit. So, don't you worry about where is the key or the clue, so I'm not going to let any stone unturned and any opportunity unexplored."
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It will be interesting to see what transpires during Joshua vs. Ngannou as there is a lot at stake with the confirmation that the winner will earn the next title shot and 'The Gypsy King' being in attendance.
Anthony Joshua's coach weighs in on Francis Ngannou's confidence
Anthony Joshua's coach Ben Davison recently weighed in on Francis Ngannou's confidence ahead of their bout and noted that they took the PFL star seriously when preparing for it.
During the aforementioned press conference, Davison brought up that Ngannou's performance against Tyson Fury was eye-opening and resulted in more respect being earned on his abilities. But, he mentioned that 'AJ' will provide a reality check to 'The Predator' when they meet in the ring. He said:
"I just think there's probably a false sense of confidence taken from the previous fight that he [Francis Ngannou] had. I think he's gonna be in a completely different situation...Nobody knew what to expect last time...Everybody being honest was slightly dismissive. Now we know that's not the case."