Eddie Hearn appears to have mocked Francis Ngannou’s latest defence for his defeat to Anthony Joshua.
Hearn labelled Joshua the best heavyweight in the world after he knocked Ngannou out cold in two rounds in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.
The ex-UFC heavyweight champion, who dropped Tyson Fury on his professional debut before losing on a contentious split decision in October, has already claimed that he was falling asleep in the dressing room prior to the bout which began at around 3am local time.
The 37-year-old has now suggested that he was tricked into getting to the arena much earlier than ‘AJ’ did and feels this factored into his performance.
“Listen, we both fought at 3am,” Ngannou said on The MMA Hour.
(Photo Credit: Mark Robinson, Matchroom)
“What I think happened is that they get me to the arena very early. Like my pickup time was 10.30pm to go to the arena.
“And then when we get to the arena, they tell us that we are scheduled around 1:45am right?
“They come to the locker around 1am and Joshua [was just arriving around 1]. I’m like, ‘OK, we are fighting at the same time, how come I have a pickup time?’
“We received a schedule, an email, and then for some reason I was there at least one hour before. But for the fight, at least two hours beforehand.
“They do this kind of trick to get you tired. I was like cool, I was like, ‘Bro, it’s okay.’
“I didn’t know how important that was, until the fight day that I had to get there two hours before.”
Hearn, Joshua’s career-long promoter, left a cryptic comment on an Instagram post published by Pro Boxing Fans on Tuesday questioning whether the Cameroonian had fully recovered from the knockout.
“I’m not sure he has come round yet,” Hearn commented.
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Fury was ringside in Riyadh and even applauded his long-time rival after his brutal knockout of Ngannou.
Calls once again resumed for a long-awaited bout between the two British heavyweight stars, who have failed on multiple occasions to reach an agreement.
According to Hearn though, Turki Alalshikh, who is responsible for bringing fights to Saudi Arabia, is preparing a two-fight deal to finally pit them together, although ’The Gypsy King’ must first overcome unified champion, Oleksandr Usyk in their historic undisputed heavyweight title clash set for May 18.
“This is a gentleman called Turki Alalshikh, who is obviously a very influential figure in sports and entertainment in Saudi Arabia,” Hearn told The Sports Agents Podcast.
“He’s also the biggest fight fan I’ve ever met.
“And quite amazingly, he’s now talking about staging two Fury versus AJ fights – one in Saudi Arabia and one at Wembley Stadium.”
