Anthony Joshua must avoid major Francis Ngannou trap to set up Tyson Fury showdown

Long before Red Bull’s Formula One team put out the unconvincing message that it was united as ever, boxing’s promoters were already streets ahead.

After years of acrimony between the likes of Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn, suddenly they are all smiles, sitting at the top table together for press conference after press conference. Saudi Arabia’s riches can do that to people.

Anthony Joshua will pocket an estimated £40million for a night’s work in facing Francis Ngannou in Riyadh tonight, but there is greater wealth awaiting, with the winner lined up to face whoever is victorious between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.

Defeat would not quite spell the end of Joshua’s career, but it would be a major setback on what is looking an impressive road to recovery following the double Usyk defeat. Losing would also be a blow to those promoters’ pockets.

So much rests on the 10 rounds of this fight, and the threat of Ngannou is very real. An MMA fighter by trade, he was dismissed by many as a gimmick opponent when lined up to face Fury.

Few were saying such a thing when he felled him in the third round, and he was unlucky not to be awarded the win.

Was Fury too unprepared and did he take his opponent that night too lightly? We don’t entirely know. Joshua is adamant he is not falling into that trap, aware of both the power and boxing ability that his opponent will bring.

The Joshua rebuild since the two Usyk defeats has been slow and steady but, against Otto Wallin in his last fight, there finally seemed to be the full belief back in his ability.

As he put it himself: “I was in a bad place, no, a bad moment. I had put so much into becoming undisputed. I was working towards that and I just fell short. It took me about a year and a half to smooth things out, but I felt I was back to normal against Wallin.”

Against Ngannou, he has options — go for the explosiveness of old and the power punching, which potentially opens himself up against the heaviest puncher in the sport, or look to outbox an opponent with just one professional bout to his name.

He steps into the ring a stone-and-a-half lighter than his Cameroonian rival but is confident that, with trainer Ben Davison, he has the gameplan to look infinitely more at ease than Fury did and help raise his reputation a little further.

“He’s insane,” said Joshua of his opponent. “Big, tall guy, long reach. But I know what I have to do. I can’t focus on him, it’s about me. I have to be relentless. Anything can happen. It’s a 10-round fight, which makes it interesting.

“Even if I don’t put a dent in him, there’s many ways to skin a cat, but just let me find a way of beating him. I look at him as a boxer, not an MMA fighter. And I think he’s a good addition to the division. He brings another audience and it’s great for boxing.”

Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou is being shown live in the UK via both DAZN pay-per-view and Sky Sports Box Office.

For those who already have a subscription to DAZN, the fight will be available to purchase for £18.99. Otherwise new customers can pay £19.99 to buy the event and get a month’s free subscription to DAZN.

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