Francis Ngannou endured a difficult outing earlier this month when he fought Anthony Joshua. Since then, he has had time to rest, recover, and reflect on the matter. However, for the most part, the fans are not too keen on what he has had to say so far.
For those unaware, Ngannou recently headlined his second boxing event in Saudi Arabia. Fighting Anthony Joshua on the main event of ‘Knockout Chaos’ there was a lot of expectation for Ngannou to deliver. In his previous outing, he had managed to shock the world by putting in the performance of a lifetime against lineal heavyweight champ, Tyson Fury.
The moment that @anthonyjoshua DESTROYED Francis Ngannou 🤯#JoshuaNgannou | #KnockoutChaos | #RiyadhSeason pic.twitter.com/ONl1rlhSlo
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) March 9, 2024
Unfortunately, things went far from ideal for the former UFC heavyweight champion on the night. After suffering a knockdown in Round 1, Ngannou found himself downed once again in Round 2, before getting flatlined by Joshua just moments afterward. A disappointing loss, to say the least, many suggested that it was the end of Ngannou’s boxing tenure.
Francis Ngannou believes he was picked up too early for his fight
Following the back-breaking loss, there was a lot of concern for Francis Ngannou and his health and safety after the fight. After the devastating knockout, he took a significant amount of time to regain consciousness and get back to his feet. Eventually, he was able to gather himself, despite feeling very deflated after the fight.
Having had time to fully recover from it and had thought about it for more than a week, Francis had some issues that he felt needed to be addressed. Speaking on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, he revealed:
Francis Ngannou thinks his pick up time to go to the arena was too early.#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/Cj8iCnpBdE
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) March 18, 2024
“They got me to the arena very early. My pick-up time was 10:30 (PM) to go to the arena. Then when we get to the arena, they tell us that we are scheduled around 1:45 (AM), and then around 1, they came to the locker, and (Anthony) Joshua was still arriving”.
As such, Francis felt a little put off by this and questioned, “How come do I have a pick up time, we receive a fight week schedule and then for some reason I was there at least 1 hour before, and for the fight I was there at least two hours before him (Joshua). I could’ve just stayed home”.
Understandably, it is possible that the fighter had a massive adrenaline dump before it was his time to fight. Having been made to wait on the sidelines can get exhausting, especially when the event is such a long one. Although professional fighters are usually used to such circumstances, it was one that Francis felt played a factor in his performance on the night.
Fans react to Francis Ngannou’s early pick-up statements
According to Francis Ngannou, the early pick-up meant that he would have to wait nearly five hours at the venue before stepping out to fight. Notably, the fighter revealed that some members of his team warned him about such tricks to get him tired before the fight, however, being the model professional he is, Francis went through with it all regardless.
Unfortunately, it did not pan out as Ngannou had hoped, with him seemingly appearing tired before even stepping inside the ring. After making a sluggish walkout, the 37-year-old could never get out of first gear. Although there was no reason for him to be so slow from the off, he believes that he was intentionally sabotaged to lose the fight.
However, fans on social media have not taken to it well and have understandably slammed the fighter for making excuses. As such, they wrote, “That’s a new one. I’ll give him that”, “The skill gap was visible to Stevie Wonder” and “Francis just say u had an off night n leave it at that broda”. Thus, it will take a lot for Francis Ngannou to work through this setback and put himself in a position where he can win his next fight and win back the fans.