Ngannou is heading into Friday’s fight with great confidence despite losing his last fight to WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury via split decision last year. The ex-UFC heavyweight champion scored a knockdown on Fury but didn’t get his hand raised at the end of the contest.
AJ, meanwhile, is looking to maintain momentum as he tries to reclimb the heavyweight mountain and become a three-time world champion. The Brit has won his last three contests following back-to-back heavyweight title defeats to Oleksandr Usyk. The winner of Joshua vs Ngannou is expected to go on to face the winner of May’s undisputed heavyweight title fight between Fury and Usyk.
Regardless of winning and losing, AJ and Ngannou will earn handsome sums of money. Ngannou will take home north of £15.5m, while Joshua will touch close to £40m in earnings. Rapper Drake will not come close to either of those fight purses even if his £500k bet wins on Friday, with the Canadian in Ngannou’s corner.
Ngannou weighed a stone and a half heavier than his rival. “This is just my second boxing match, even though I am taking on the two best guys in the world in boxing,” Ngannou said. “I am going in there to prove that you can be the underdog and make it and stand my ground.”
The former UFC star made one thing clear, though. “Sometimes it makes me laugh a little bit because I know OK, we are going to fight in boxing rules, but what happens if it was fight or MMA rules, I would smoke those guys,” he added.
Joshua is favored by many of his rivals, including Otto Wallin, whom he defeated in his last fight. “I hope Joshua will come out aggressive again because then I think he will knock him out,” Wallin said. “We know Ngannou has power and if Joshua tries to play safe then he might get clipped. But I hope he is aggressive. If he knocks Ngannou out it makes me look better.”
Joesph Parker, who’s looking to gain momentum from his win over Deontay Wilder by beating Zhilei Zhang, added: “I can’t really call it. It’s a tough one. Ngannou is a good friend of mine and AJ is very respectful and we do have chats here and there. It will be a good fight. May the best man win.”
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