When it comes to excuses or controversy, Francis Ngannou certainly has that part of being a professional boxer down as he claimed on social media that he had been sleepy prior to stepping into the ring with Anthony Joshua, which some would suggest boils down to either a manifestation of some sort of anxiety or pre-match jitters, or a form of poisoning.
While Francis Ngannou (0-2, 0 KO’s) did not immediately attribute his loss to drowsiness, his admittance of being sleepy did allude to his loss being caused by his physiological state prior to entering the ring with Anthony Joshua (28-3, 25 KO’s). Interestingly, Ngannou also revealed he had been much better prepared to face Joshua on March 8th than he had been when he faced Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KO’s) on October 28th last year.
“The difference was that Joshua was my second boxing training camp,” Ngannou said when answering a fan’s question on the difference in preparation for his fights with Joshua and Fury.
“I had been there already and I had felt a lot better, even in the training camp. Even my sparring partners were better than the first training camp.
“The thing that changed everything in the Fury fight was that I got there and I was like, ‘okay, we’re going to figure this out’. But the Joshua fight… I don’t know. I was trying to let it [his hands] go but it wasn’t moving.
“As far as the [Anthony Joshua] training camp, it was way better; I felt great. My body mechanics were a lot better this time than the first time. I did have minor injuries but nothing that stopped me from training.“
When it came to his actual fight with Anthony Joshua, Francis Ngannou expanded on his physiology prior to entering the ring on March 8th.
“I remember being in the locker [room] trying to warm up, and then it wasn’t going,” Ngannou said during the live-stream.
“I was feeling asleep, I told Erik [Nicksick] something like, ‘bro, I’m feeling asleep. I’m sweating but I’m feeling asleep’. But you know, I assume that’s how some people that I have beat have felt before, but it was basically the first time I felt that.“
Francis Ngannou’s words do ring some alarm bell with his admission that he had never felt any sort of drowsiness or sleeping before entering a ring or cage. While his physiological state can be attributed to a form of anxiety, there is a more sinister explanation that goes back to the organizers of the tournament.
Earlier this year when the fight between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou had been announced, General Entertainment Authority (GEA) chairman Turki Al-Sheikh had given an overlooked statement regarding his wish to see Joshua defeat Ngannou for the sake of the reputation of boxing following Fury’s closer-than-anticipated match against Ngannou on October 28th.
“You know I look to you as a brother, but I want someone to stop you,” Al-Sheikh stated to Francis Ngannou during the launch of the Joshua-Ngannou press conference. “I want somebody from the boxing world to stop you.“
As an avid boxing fan and recently regarded as “The Most Influential Figure in Boxing” by boxing media platform Boxing News, there was a motive for the Saudi Arabian minister to play a role in Ngannou’s physical state prior to facing Joshua as he clearly did want to see the British heavyweight come out on top.
However, Al-Sheikh’s influence has thus far only pertained to his ability to fund and host highly-attractive boxing events, and there is no clear evidence to suggest there was any foul play involved when it came to the Joshua-Ngannou fight.
It should be noted that with boxing being verifiably corrupt, it is not entirely out of the question that something nefarious could have happened, but with fighters being tested both before and after their fights for any illegal substance, any form of intentional or unintentional contamination or poisoning would/will be noticed.
In regards to his future in either boxing or MMA, Francis Ngannou still maintained he wanted to continue boxing, which he would try to do in conjunction with competing in the PFL to which he is signed.
“I am not done with boxing, I’m not done with MMA,” Ngannou confirmed during his live-stream.
“I think basically right now I will be making my [PFL] debut against [current-reigning PFL champion] Renan Ferreira. That will be my future [upcoming] debut against Perreira. But again, I basically have a lot of fights in the future, so I can still combine [both sports].
“I will still be back in action, but I won’t let boxing go just because I’m more comfortable in MMA. I’m still going to do both. It’s part of what we do; we take challenges and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t work, but we are working on it.“
