FRANCIS NGANNOU INTERVIEW: Star opens up on alleged sabotage earlier than his Anthony Joshua battle, hospital checks after a brutal KO and the way it might have been him taking up Jake Paul

There is still a bitter taste in Francis Ngannou‘s mouth when he thinks about the night he fought Anthony Joshua, not because of the ending, but because, in his mind, the fight was over long before the opening bell rang. 

Sitting down with Clubhouse Boxing ahead of Joshua’s looming clash with Jake Paul, Ngannou does not sound angry so much as unsettled, replaying a sequence of events that he believes denied him the chance to truly compete. 

‘When I think back to it now, I can honestly say I was done in the locker room. Before I even made it to the ring I was done. I warmed up, then I had to try stay warm. I was up and down because I was there for hours’, he said.

‘I felt so sleepy sitting there waiting for the fight. It meant, when I stepped foot in the ring, it was never the fight it was meant to be. I wasn’t able to do what I was meant to do because of that. It left a bitter taste in my mouth because I didn’t get to fight the fight properly. I had been in the dressing room for hours and saw AJ arrive like he knew the right time.’ 

Ngannou believes that experience was not accidental. As the week unfolded, small delays began to feel like something more calculated, particularly to his long-time coach Dewey Cooper, who saw patterns Ngannou admits he initially dismissed. 

‘There were a lot of things that happened in fight week. I remember Dewey Cooper was getting upset about stuff because every time they said we needed to leave to go somewhere, we would arrive on time and they would keep us waiting two hours. 

‘He was like, this is how you guys get a boxer tired. I didn’t know that because in MMA we don’t have that kind of thing. I kept saying it’s okay don’t worry about it, it’s just a delay but Dewey knew what was going on. It had been like that the entire week, we had to wait for everything.’ 

Asked directly whether he believes Joshua and his promotional team Matchroom were responsible, the former UFC heavyweight champion does not hesitate.

‘It was done on purpose. 100 per cent it was done on purpose. Now, I look back and I think oh wow that’s bad. I was so cooked. I was cooked way before I got into that right, which I think was my mistake.

‘I should have figured out what they were doing, because it’s actually what I was expecting from the Tyson Fury fight. Then it didn’t happen that way so I assumed AJ wouldn’t do it, but he did.’ 

For a fighter who crossed from MMA into boxing seeking opportunity and fairness, the experience has left him wary. The politics, he says, were a shock.

‘Discovering what goes on inside boxing is eye opening’, he said. ‘I mean obviously MMA has politics. But, boxing, the politics is crazy. It’s like running for a country!’ 

Ngannou insists he is not claiming certainty about how a rematch would end, but he is convinced it would look nothing like their first encounter – provided the circumstances were different. 

‘The fight can go either way. But what I can say is, it would have been a very different fight. My only concern about fighting AJ against would be that same environment. I think I would be a little worried that they would look to replicate it. 

‘I mean, that might just be playing on my mind, I don’t know if it would happen but that is what I am assuming. Just doing something that I’m not aware of. They might pull something off because whether you like it or not, I’m an outsider.’ 

Despite the brutal knockout, Ngannou is adamant that his body was not damaged in the way many assumed when he lay motionless on the canvas after being knocked out in devastating fashion during the second round of their encounter. 

‘No, I didn’t get concussion. It looked worse than it was. Honestly, I think I was just tired. After the fight, I went to the hospital to check for concussion, because at the end of the fight, I did get really hit and I wasn’t moving. I wasn’t doing anything. I wasn’t very responsive. So, I went to Paris to get out of Saudi and went to the hospital to get checked for concussion and I was fine.’ 

Now, as Joshua prepares for the most polarising fight of his career against Jake Paul, Ngannou watches with a mix of curiosity and familiarity – particularly because, as he reveals, he was briefly in the frame himself. 

‘I don’t know about this fight with AJ and Jake Paul. It’s quite intriguing. By the way, they called me for that fight, They called me for the Jake Paul fight. I’m like, What do you mean? They’re like would you fight Jake Paul? 

‘They said that Gervonta Davis is out and we’re looking for a replacement and we would like to fight you. I’m like how do you go from Gervonta to Francis Ngannou? I didn’t believe they were serious and then when I heard about AJ I didn’t believe it was true. So yeah, there were big numbers being discussed. It was a big payday but I wasn’t too interested then.’ 

Ngannou believes the motivation behind Joshua’s decision may be less about spectacle and more about healing. Drawing on his own lowest moments after losses to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis, he explains how defeat once hollowed him out and how rediscovering joy became the key to survival. 

‘The Stipe fight was January, 2018 I think. This was my first and best experience as an athlete because I’d been in the sport for just, what, maybe four years. And then that was the first night that I really had to learn and understand what’s going on. 

‘I learnt a lot about myself and about the sport. I realised a lot of things I hadn’t realised before. Then I was having to make adjustments. Honestly, looking back at that moment, it was a very tough moment because the way I viewed myself wasn’t good. 

‘When you get your first loss or a really big loss, you feel like everything is over. You even feel ashamed of yourself and everything. After the Stipe fight I wasn’t moving on. I was still thinking about it when I went into the Derrick Lewis fight. I was embarrassed, I was ashamed, I was getting a lot of backlash. 

‘I became so worried about what people were saying. I had to find myself again. I had to think about why I started the sport. Why I was even there in the first place. It was for fun. Am I having fun anymore? No, not at all. Why? Because people say this and say that. Then I’m like you know what? F*** that. 

‘I just want to go in there and have fun. Doesn’t matter the outcome. You take it and you go home. If it all stops there, if it’s the end, let it go. I was so worried about losing that it was making me lose. So I said screw that, I’ll go have fun and then I started winning again. I think that’s maybe why AJ has taken this fight with Jake Paul, to rediscover his love.’ 

Whether Joshua finds that love again remains to be seen. For Ngannou, the scars of boxing’s inner workings are still fresh and the bitter taste, for now, has yet to fade.