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Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has accused Anthony Joshua’s promotion team of using delay tactics to disrupt his preparation before their recent bout in Saudi Arabia.
Joshua defeated Ngannou by a second-round knockout, leading Ngannou to seek medical attention.
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During a recount of his experience on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast, Ngannou recalled incidents he believes were designed to give Joshua an edge in their fight.
“We get into fight week, and every time we’re scheduled for media, they pick me up, and then I have to wait an hour and a half before the media arrives,” Ngannou said.
He added that his striking coach, Dewey Cooper, became suspicious of these delays, suggesting they were tactics to make fighters tire quickly.
Ngannou also described issues on the day of the fight, detailing how he arrived at the arena hours before the scheduled fight time, only to be informed of a significant delay.
“A producer comes into the locker room and says, ‘Oh, guy, we are running late on the broadcast. Now we’re going to go around 1:45.’ I’m like, okay, 1:45. It’s 10:45. Three hours. Okay,” he said.
However, he exonerated Joshua personally from these incidents, but criticized the organizing bodies.
“This is definitely not on him (Joshua), because he wasn’t the one sending all those emails or organizing. So I’m not blaming him for anything. But the organization did some things that weren’t fair,” Ngannou stated.
By Dotun Omisakin
