Adedokun Waliyu 
This Friday will see Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou, a fight that has been deemed a pulsating encounter filled with so much fireworks.
Many have referred to Joshua as the old force who still sits at the upper echelon of boxing while Ngannou is the new force hoping to topple the giants despite having little professional experience.
The 34-year-old Nigerian is on a redemption path to regaining his WBA, IBO and IBF titles which he lost to Oleksandr Usyk back in August 2022
On the other hand, Ngannou is hoping to ride the wave after an impressive display in Saudi Arabia despite a split-decision defeat to Tyson Fury
The Cameroonian has not been without his critics. Fellow former MMA heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski says he understands Ngannou’s motive for departure from UFC, but he believes the feud with Dana White was less than ideal for the mixed martial arts business.
In a faceoff interview, Joshua stated he was coming into the fight to prove doubters wrong as he has been underestimated by different quarters.
”People underestimate me a lot.” he said
”I expect it to be a good fight, It’s not even the strength that I carry, It is the brains. I will process what I need to process and I will do what I need to do.”
The former unified heavyweight champion claimed that at the end of the night, he would be the last man standing
”I will be victorious, I have my own legacy and I am destined by God.”
”Everything in my life has been designed to make me move forward in my life and I will be victorious.”
”I am looking forward to the challenge so I can learn a lot about myself.”
The former UFC Heavyweight champion said despite his respect for Joshua, the Nigerian will be the one lying on the canvas after the fight
When I look at this fight I know AJ is great at his game and I respect that, If I was not in this fight I would have been betting on AJ
I will take everything in my stomach to come after AJ and do everything possible to take him down and knock him out
I am going to do this for my own legacy, for my own record.
Ngannou stated that he was in no way underestimating the former heavy champion despite claiming he feels Fury posed more of a threat
”For me, I will say Fury is hard to figure has an unorthodox style while AJ has an orthodox style and during my fight, I found what worked for me and I put Fury in an Uncomfortable place.”
”When I fight AJ I will have to do the same thing and find my sweet spot but definitely what works for Fury won’t work for him and I will have to be on top of my game.”
The two fighters will face off this Friday, March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The full fight card of the night also features a colossal clash between Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker
The pair meet for Zhang’s WBO interim heavyweight title on the exciting undercard to Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou’s titanic showdown.
