Francis Ngannou has no regrets about his fight with Anthony Joshua.
Earlier this month, Ngannou made his sophomore outing in professional boxing, taking on Anthony Joshua in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was a disaster – he was brutally knocked out in the second round after getting dropped twice.
In the aftermath, some suggested the outcome should have happened when Ngannou faced Tyson Fury in 2023 (when he nearly pulled off one of the most improbable upsets in boxing history).
For his part, Ngannou chalks it up to an uncharacteristically off night, but looking back, he’s OK with everything, because he knows he did everything possible to set himself up for success.
“This is one thing that also helped me to be OK with it: as far as a training camp, I had my best training camp,” Ngannou said. “I was in my best condition. The best. Even if we had to start this again, I really don’t see a thing that I should have done different. We did a good training camp in Riyadh and everything was good, except that fight day where things were very odd.”
While Ngannou may not be able to pin down exactly what happened, others have been more than willing to offer thoughts. Some suggested it was proof Ngannou’s success against Tyson Fury was down to Fury overlooking him and not Ngannou’s own ability.
Along those lines, Ngannou critics pointed to his decision to shift to southpaw in the first round, which ultimately led to the first knockdown, as a sign that “The Predator” was simply too inexperienced in the face of an elite boxer. But Ngannou disagrees.
“I do not have any regrets,” he said. “Now that I lost the fight, we can say anything that I’ve done wrong. We worked on everything, and everything was OK. This was all my [choice]. Even in southpaw, my defense is more sharp than orthodox. In the southpaw, to take a hit from the right back hand, this is something that in sparring never happened, and I’ve been there so many times practicing.
“So I really have no regrets, because that was our training and we improved everything. I really have no regrets. We worked toward that, we made that decision, and we stand by it. ... With the same southpaw, I think we basically won the fight against Tyson.”
Still, the loss changed perspectives, and not just for Ngannou’s critics. Following the knockout, even some MMA luminaries suggested Ngannou could lose to Joshua in an MMA fight, while others simply wanted him to leave boxing.
For Ngannou, none of that matters. He’s going to continue to pursue his passions and remains unconcerned with the opinion of others.
“It doesn’t bother me,” he said. “I think I get to the point where, we have been here so many times talking about drama, what people think, what people say, that I think I’m at the point where I don’t really let what people say affect me. I don’t mind that much what people say, because they will always have something to say. But I also think this was exactly what was expected. I think if I was treated wrong, everything that happened was just to restore this, because regardless, I kind of disrespected the system a little bit.”
