07 March 2024 , 11:45
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Francis Ngannou's coach believes Anthony Joshua will leave the ring "broken" after his fight with the ex-UFC champion.
Joshua has rebuilt his career following back-to-back defeats by Oleksandr Usyk which saw him surrender his heavyweight world titles for a second time. The Brit has since beaten Jermaine Franklin, Robert Helenius and Otto Walin to propel himself back into world title contention.
And while he will start as the odds-on favourite against Ngannou, the Cameroonian's trainer Dewey Cooper is confident his man can inflict more psychological pain on the Brit. "The reality on Friday night is that someone is going to win and someone is going to lose and that's the unfortunate side of sports," he told Mirror Fighting.
"We get to see a result in real time; we get to see triumph or misery in real time. Someone will leave the ring very sad - most likely psychologically broken - and I don't feel that will be us, I feel it will be Anthony Joshua and I will feel that way until it's not. You can't defeat him until you beat him; you can't defeat Francis until you beat Francis and I don't think he has what it takes to defeat Francis."
Ngannou made his professional boxing debut against Tyson Fury last October, dropping the world champion in the third round before losing a narrow points decision. And the 37-year-old has set his sights on a second fight with Fury after his clash with Joshua.
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"I really think I haven’t shocked the world," he said. "I am still in the factory building, training, learning and I think when I am really going to get it, that is when the world will be shocked. As I said, I am just getting started.
"I am really looking for the victory on Friday night but I don’t think that will make the heavy statement of my career because the road is still long and I really intend to gain a lot of major victories like this. One over Tyson. One more over Tyson because I had the first one over him and I intend to have the second one."