Anthony Joshua had a brutal response when Francis Ngannou started to brag about knocking Tyson Fury to the ground of their combat final 12 months. UFC star Ngannou dropped Fury on his boxing debut in October, however the Gypsy King received again to his toes and controversially claimed a split-decision win.

Ngannou is continuous his swap to boxing and can subsequent face Joshua in simply his second bout on March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Brit actually has expertise on his facet, with 29 extra fights to his identify, however that didn't cease Ngannou from exhibiting his confidence of their face-to-face.

Speaking to DAZN, the ex-UFC champion claimed that Joshua wouldn't have been capable of present the identical resilience as Fury did final 12 months, recovering from Ngannou’s knockdown. Despite the defeat on his debut, the 37-year-old took coronary heart from the competition and believes that he has the higher hand over subsequent month’s opponent.

“Yeah, I have a doubt about that,” Ngannou stated whereas sat down with AJ discussing his dropping of Fury. “Tyson showed that he’s very resilient. I saw him come back from a knockdown that you wouldn’t believe. So I think he’s probably one of the most resistant person out there, and that’s not a disrespect to AJ. I don’t believe that AJ would take what Tyson did.”

But Joshua brutally shut down Ngannou’s efforts to dismiss his probabilities of victory within the Middle East, rapidly hitting again with: "Who hasn't knocked Tyson down? So many people have knocked Tyson down."

Fury has been floored on seven events all through his profession however fought again to his toes every time to stay unbeaten. Ngannou had hoped for a rematch with Fury, however his needs have been quashed when a blockbuster combat with Oleksandr Usyk was agreed and a new date was pencilled in for May 18.

Joshua was because of tackle Deontay Wilder in March however that plan collapsed following the American’s shock defeat to Joseph Parker. That arrange one other heavyweight conflict between Joshua and Ngannou because the UFC man continues to strive his hand at boxing.

But Joshua has dispelled the notion that it's a “gimmick fight” by taking up an opponent with only one earlier boxing match below his belt, after making a U-turn himself on the concept.

He added: “They spoke about this fight before and I said ‘no, it’s a gimmick fight, it’s not something that I think is right — crossing over when I’m still chasing heavyweight glory’. And then I think when they saw what happened with his last fight, the situation with Wilder, this opportunity presented itself. I never turned down a challenge and I’m looking forward to it.”