Anthony Joshua’s trainer Ben Davison has looked ahead to AJ’s upcoming crossover showdown with former UFC superstar Francis Ngannou, admitting that they are preparing for the Cameroonian as if he is a world level opponent.
Ngannou went close with Tyson Fury on his professional boxing debut, knocking down ‘The Gypsy King’ before losing a razor-thin split-decision.
Meanwhile Davison, who trained Fury up until four years ago, was appointed as Joshua’s lead trainer and guided the two-time champion to his most impressive performance since he lost his world titles, as he stopped Otto Wallin after five rounds.
Speaking to Full Circle with bet365, Davison broke down what will be his second contest in Joshua’s corner, and gave Ngannou plenty of respect ahead of the bout.
“He’s a fighter at the end of the day. A novice boxer perhaps, but that doesn’t change the fact he’s an elite level fighter. He’s had plenty of fights, and he’s had a boxing fight at the very highest level, so we’re treating this as the serious threat of which it is.
“At the end of the day, it’s a fight. They’ve got gloves on, and it’s two big guys fighting. They’re physically absolute specimens, but we can’t overlook him being a trained fighter either who has now boxed at the highest level. However many times he’s done that is irrelevant, but he has fought at the elite level.
“Somehow people are saying Ngannou hasn’t proven himself? He’s had fights where he became a heavyweight champion of the world, where they were able to do a bit more than just punch.
“He’s then had a boxing fight at world level, and people are disregarding him as world level when plenty of people had the opinion the fight was painfully close. We’ve got to consider him at world level, we certainly are anyway.”
Joshua-Ngannou will take place on Friday March 8th, live on both DAZN PPV and Sky Sports Box Office.