Francis Ngannou accuses boxing promoters of using dirty tactics to assist Anthony Joshua: “They did quite some stuff that wasn’t fair”

Francis Ngannou is accusing boxing promoters of using dirty tactics to assist his most recent opponent Anthony Joshua.

Ngannou made his boxing debut in October of 2023 when he met and was defeated by Tyson Fury by split decision. The fighter in his second outing, got in the ring with Anthony Joshua this past March. That fight ended in a KO victory for Joshua. The 37-year-old former UFC champion is now 0-2 in the ring.

Francis Ngannou, speaking with Joe Rogan on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’, shared that he believes British boxing promoters plotted against him saying:

“We get into fight week, and every time we’re going to do media, they’re going to pick me up and then I get there and have to wait an hour and a half before (media) arrives. On the third day of fight week, (striking coach) Dewey Cooper started to get very mad, ‘This is what they do to get fighters tired!’ But at the time I didn’t know what was going on. So I’m like ‘No, come on, relax. It’s okay. I didn’t know until we get to fight day.”

Continuing, Ngannou said:

“Fight day, we receive an email. Pickup time: 10:30 from the hotel. And when they say 10:30, by 10:20 there’s a car at your door waiting. The supposed fight time is between midnight to 1. We get to the arena at 10:45. A producer comes into the locker room, says, ‘Oh, guy, we are running late on the broadcast. Now we’re gonna go around 1:45.’ I’m like okay, 1:45. It’s 10:45. 3 hours. Okay.”

(via Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

Francis Ngannou shared how tired he was prior to his boxing bout with Anthony Joshua:

“It was around 1:30 that (Joshua) arrived. I’m like … so we supposed to fight at 1:45? He’s arriving at 1:30 … we leave the room at 3:30. I have been in Saudi Arabia almost two months training to fight between midnight and 1. But even at that time I didn’t know what was happening. It was only after everything. Because I got to the point that I was so tired, I was in the locker room hitting mitts, then sitting down, falling asleep. Then I tell (coach) Eric Nicksick there’s something wrong. I’m asleep. I feel like I wanna sleep. Like, I’m sweating. But we just keep going.”

Concluding, while not blaming Joshua, Ngannou does believe the organization was at fault (h/t MMAMania):

“Not to say Anthony Joshua couldn’t beat me. I think if there’s somebody that you can lose against, he’s the guy, he’s one of the best doing it. This is definitely not on him, because he wasn’t the guy that was sending all those emails, organizing. So I’m not blaming him for anything. But the organization, they did quite some stuff that wasn’t fair.”

“His team was part of the organization because it was Queensbury (Promotions) and Matchroom (Boxing), those emails were coming to me from them. Those were the people that were sending the schedule, and every day they send everything, the pickup time, the program, the schedule.”

Francis Ngannou is currently preparing for his PFL debut this coming October where he will battle Renan Ferreira.

What do you think of Ngannou’s accusations against boxing promoters?

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