Anthony Joshua Vs Francis Ngannou Launch Press Conference

It’s the launch of March 8’s all action showdown between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou, live from London. Watch the first press conference ahead of the opening Face Off.

#JoshuaNgannou #RiyadhSeason #Boxing

Right Oh good evening fight fans we are [Applause] live some breaking news Sam car is joining Chelsea on a 2 and a half year deal wow that’s what it’s all about wow that’s what it’s all [Applause] about Power Bomb she knows she can get this done that is confidence easily brow at his own

Schedule to see upcoming fights or catch up on recent events never miss a punch by setting reminders that alert you on your mobile [Applause] device I am here with the main event J swingler how are you feeling absolutely fantastic are you not [Applause] entertained I mean watch where he

Catches this and look at his body positioning and he has to pull that back around under his [Applause] feet naig a Fight Night key moments replay the rounds in action you want to see again and [Applause] again give it up for the black spring final Grand Champions into the water for the final

Time he’s won the race to go along with a Championship [Applause] absolutely magnificent what a strike that is the fight starts [Applause] now the following program is recommended for those 16 and over as it contains sporting violence possible bad language and flashing [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] imagery The theone boxing show is live from London it’s 2024 kicks off with another Mega fight announcement this time it’s the heavyweight showdown between two time former chap of the world Anthony Joshua and former UFC heavyweight champion France is in ganu yeah we’re inside the Magnificent outet look at that I mean there are

Fight posters and then there is that knockout chaos AJ versus in G it’s going to happen live on the Zone March 8th that’s a Friday as well so make sure you put that one in your Diaries the world’s presser here we’re here we’re ready for it and I’m so excited that it’s

Happening and look who we’ve got with me as well Dan Hardy The Outlaw Dan Hardy Darren Barker as well guys none of us predicted this one this was supposed to be a presser for AJ versus Deontay Wilder right I was looking forward to I had everything ready to say all of a

Sudden Joseph Parker upsets the Apple cut and in steps Francis and gar what’ you make of it the show go go on the show goes so lucky that we have such a big pool of Fighters out there to sort of fill the spot if you like and all of

A sudden now we got Francis enano puts in that unbelievable performance against if you want to label him the linear no he is the linear heavyweight champion world champion and yeah I mean now now we’re here I think he sees the moment andu he’s seen what happened to Wild I

Thought ah I have that yeah I spoke to him Dan and I said to him like why are you here he said I was watching the fight between a J and Oten and I tweeted straight away I tweeted his Excellency got back to me and said okay do you want

It and here we are France in ganu versus AJ I prefer this and I know a lot of boxing offici AOS won’t like to hear this I am more excited about this than I would have been for AJ versus hugovic I’m being honest I I think this is a

Better match up for Francis for a lot of different reasons you know I think Fury is very difficult to read he’s difficult to break down you know it’s difficult to get inside his head certainly even when he was picking himself up off the canvas he was able to regroup and and you know

Get things back together so he came off on the scorecards with the victory I don’t know if if AJ goes through those first three or four rounds with the same kind of adversity whether he’s going to be able to keep it together for the next six when he’s dealing with someone

That’s so unknown and unpredictable in Francis and Garner all right stop this stop this talk Darren come on you’re here for box he’s here for MMA I’m going to go on the flip side there I think this is a harder fight from ganu that there was stages right and I’m not

Getting carried away there was stages in that fight with Fury that if you was to say drag someone off the street who didn’t know boxing and you said just quickly watch 10 seconds of this fight who’s the novice out of these two I bet you there’d be plenty that would have

Said Fury the way he was falling over his right hand when he was throwing the shot and that allowed and G to find that left hook AJ is not going to do that he punches precise he’s accurate he doesn’t fall over the front foot when he throws

A jab he properly throws the jab he doesn’t just pour it out look a low PA Advocate though isn’t that easier for in guardan to read like an aod do boxer as opposed to someone like Fury that does everything in my opinion absolutely not because the fundamentals that what can

Take you around the world and he does them so well he doesn’t make many mistakes now he’s not as Reckless if I want to use that word as he was back in the day but this fight here against Wallin showed us glimpses and I think he gets a little annoyed about people

Saying the old AJ but when we talk about the old AJ it’s someone committing to their shots fully rotating through their shots looking to hurt their opponent and that’s what we’re seeing with AJ now Dan how surprised were you with how good in ganu looked against Fury uh from a

Boxing standpoint could you watch in MMA and look we’ve watched him for years it can be a bit erratic sometimes but against Fury he was very much an orthodox boxer who actually switched to Southport a couple of times as well that the biggest surprise for me was his

Composure honestly like I I feel like I feel like a big part of Fury’s game plan was banking on the fact that Inu was going to be Reckless that he was going to bite on faints and he was going to lose his shape that he was going to be

There to be hit with counters and he didn’t I think the patience of ingu really undermined Fury in that in those opening rounds I don’t know if we’re going to get the same version of of Inu because he’s now got the confidence that he can do 10 Rounds which we didn’t know

At the time was a question in his mind going into the fury fight how am I going to feel now he has that confidence he might pick up his Pace that’s incredible by the way you know for your that you build up to 10 rounds to do 10 Rounds

Where are the fours and sixes Inc it is incredible you know what else is incredible every time I see Anthony Joshua and I’ve been covering AJ fights for the best part of 10 years he’s the biggest man in the room like physically he’s the biggest man I just did the face

Off between AJ and G I can tell you now AJ is not the biggest man in the room and ganu is enormous he’s enormous the size and again you he’s enormous but he’s got Mobility with it and now he knows he’s got an engine that can go 10

Rounds yeah and and we saw you know the other thing I think was a was a surprise for Fury was the the strength of on the inside the posterior chain you know Fury being so tall being able to weigh down bear over people like I would expect him

To use against USI he was never able to put himself in that situation against inaru and and I don’t know whether I don’t know whether AJ is going to be able to do that as well does he just avoid the clinch entirely to say finding out whether he’s stronger or not that’s

Going to be a good little B who’s the strongest between these two um one bone of contention a lot of fight fans have picked up on it and you guys can say if it’s wrong or right the WBC have now ranked and G with in the top 10 he’s a

Top 10 heavyweight now look you smile straight away I don’t know what would you make of that I mean I get it you put in a good performance against Tyson Fury the lineal Champion but there’ll be a lot of other heavyweights that are not in that top 10 they like one second

What’s going on here it undermines them slightly but then look if you put in a performance like that against the the champion if you like the number one as we see there then you do deserve a solid ranking it’s crazy so unheard of this it’s so alien that we can’t quite get

Our heads around it but one thing is for sure just before that first Bell on March the eth the energy in the arena is going to be electric it really is and you’ve got to congratulate enanu on the risk he’s taken his story and I’m not just talking about the story of him

Going from Cameroon to Spain to France that’s that’s another story that will be told and trust me it will be told properly I’m just talking about the story where they know I offers you a contract you say no I don’t want that contract you leave the UFC risky you

Leave the UFC all of a sudden you fight the two big biggest names in the heavyweight division arguably two of the biggest boxes out there he’s rolled the Dyson himself and his numbers have come up and that in the Mixed Martial Arts world is the biggest story he’s backing

Himself and taking that risk because there are so few Fighters that would ever especially with the heavyweight belt around their waist go you know what this might be my last fight I’m going to step out and see what free agency looks like because he didn’t know any of this

Was waiting for him he didn’t know there was a pfl contract there waiting for him so he’s got other MMA opportunities as well I mean we’re going to be watching this movie in a few years time no doubt about it yeah who’s going to play France andu that’s the

Problem all right look so many great fights coming your way on the Zone in 2024 make sure you stay locked in this will be the greatest atmosphere you have ever witnessed in a boxing ring every time he threw the hooks had effect what a fight what a fight

Straight down the p and then the finish was emphatic tremendous action unbelievable professional record boxing mystery is about to be made and still this is a championship Fight yeah not a bad 2024 is it kicks off with h Mia versus John Ryder that one Conor Ben back in Action as he looks to bid to get into maybe title contention in 2024 he takes some doson then banga versus mccy some of the fights coming your way live and free on

The zone so again as I said make sure you stay locked in for that one what’s the MMA Community saying Dan you’ve obviously got your ear close to the ground are they excited about what enanu is doing are they like one second we want to see you back in the pfl fighting

Some guys in MMA what are they saying honestly I think people are surprised I think people were expecting to see him back in the MMA World pretty quick after the fury fight but honestly because the performance was what it was I think straight away people were like well

We’ll kind of hang back we’ll wait in the MMA world and you can go and do your thing the MMA world will be waiting for Inu whenever he comes back I think we’re enjoying this far into box him for as long as it’s going to last for him to be

Honest it’s funny because prior to the Tyson Fury fight and even after that fight I was like Jon Jones we need to see Jon Jones versus inaru Jon Jones moving up to heavyweight and it’s not even no one’s even speaking about it anymore it’s like that’s just vanished

No one’s saying in Jon Jones versus in garu no one’s saying asol versus enanu all of a sudden it’s enanu versus boxers and that’s all they want to see it’s crazy it really is crazy and unfortunately him stepping out of the UFC heavyweight division kind of left it

In a bit of disarray because Jon Jones came back picked up one win looked fantastic then tor’s pectoral muscle Stipe M chit is into his 40s now so he’s kind of hanging back waiting for Jon Jones to come back and then you’ve got Tom Aspen looking like he can beat

Anybody in the world right now holding an interim belt desperately waiting for his crack at the actual title it’s a really strange thing I want mind seeing Tom Aspen cross over in the Box think that Tom’s got hands and I think Tom can cause a bit of problems for anyone in

The boxing World AJ if he does fight and look fingers cross no injuries March 8th there’ll be four fights in Under 12 months that’s incredible I mean you know I mean Fighters nowadays are doing one fight a year so four fights in 12 months I mean he’s backback yeah he’s called it

As well he wanted three last year didn’t he he got that follows it up quickly with this one be it slightly different to what he’s usually expected to fight but that’s how you get your timing your distance um not that he needs to build his profile anymore but it does give him

An opportunity to you know Forge his way into some huge fights for me this is a tuneup fight I’m going to get get real here he’s a big name in ganu but I really do feel this is kind of a warm-up fight for AJ in the sense there’s

Something looming and that’s the winner of AJ uh sorry usk Fury ibf heavyweight rankings they’re obviously the champion Alexander usyk we all thought it could be when Wilder fell off at hergovich Philip hergovich the number one ranked in the ibf as well it’s funny as you saying it was a

Warm-up fight dam was kind of nodding his head like okay okay you you really think this is a warm-up fight a 6’5 265b guy the thing is I’m not disagreeing with you I can see the play from Eddie and the team I think it’s a very very

Smart thing to do Ino is the commodity to beat in heavyweight boxing right now to make a statement to Fury but it was also Fury’s plan to utilizing ganu as a marketing tool for the USI fight and that backfired on him that you give him a chance absolutely I give him a chance

I give him more of a chance genuine I give him more I I picked Fury in the last fight I said Fury was going to stop him five or six I always felt like like AJ was a better matchup purely I’m partly psychological and partly because he’s more susceptible to getting hit

With big punches and I don’t know as he recovers as well psychologically as Tyson does that’s the biggest question for me you can see the stage set behind us by the way Josh Denzel is going to do a fantastic job I know of hosting the reason why we’re waiting I’ve just been

Told is cuz France is in ganu is eating you can’t stop a big man eating the of that what what’s the me your guess is tweet them in at the Zone boxing what is in right now all 280 pounds of him um in terms of inaru staying within the scene

Like say he were to lose to AJ and the odds would suggest he does lose to AJ what what does he do does he stay within it I mean do you then take another couple of steps down to I know Martin boli or jaora what do you do but he’s

He’s got only two other names in my opinion to fight Wilder is still a massive draw and US yes I mean how would he get up for a lesser opponent I mean it’s incredible that we’re talking like this uh a novice I no about boxing novice fights the best in the world and

Now he’s fighting arguably what number three best in the world if you want to call AJ that rank him there I mean it’s it’s un it’s unheard of it’s unheard of could you imagine though ifar was to win yeah but if he was to win I mean how that would completely change the

Landscape of boxing well I think they’re ready for us um I think Josh dzel is ready to get this show on the road so without further Ado let’s get this one on the way let’s throw over to your MC your presenter Mr Josh Denzel hello everyone and welcome to

London for the announcement press conference for the Anthony Joshua against Francis andaru which is taking place on March the 8th at the Kingdom Arena Riad in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this event is appropriately titled knockout chaos this fight is part of this year’s Riad season which since October has fast become the

Global destination for BigTime boxing now in six short months Riad in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has played host to four of the biggest fight nights in recent history we had Fury against Francis and G we had the huge day of recking cards and we also had Fury of course against us

Which is coming Up’s first Undisputed heavyweight title fight in the four belt era and now of course Anthony Joshua against Francis and G two of the most devastating punchers from their respective divisions now this historic event as a historic fight that will be brought to you and the fans

Worldwide by the general entertainment authority of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia G in conjunction with greensbury promotions gold star promotions sell gimmick fight promotions and 258 now this time I would like to introduce the fighters to the stage but coming first and’s longtime trainer JY Cooper Welcome JY now next to the stage long time promoter of Anthony Joshua Mr Eddie H promoter Francis angan heavyweight champion of the world Anthony Joshua contract cont What the what theop sh we would like to at this time thank the host and the people that made all of these huge fight nights that we’ve seen over the last few months last couple of years possible his Royal Highness King Salman abdulaziz Al sa the Crown Prince Muhammad B

Solman and of course the chairman of the general entertainment authority of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia G his Excellency turkey alal Shan and I’d like to throw to his Excellency who’s stood up there on the balcony to say a few words about this historic event where is come come with me okay

Should be sorry I want to speak in Arabic please to start with I would like to welcome everybody tonight and I send all my thanks to the custodian of the two holy mosque King Sal and my thanks also extend to his Royal Highness Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman our guiding and inspiring leader

May God bless them both I need from you three minutes to talk about important things we are in Saudi Arabia take extreme care to present to the markets very important uh matches the fans also would like to receive and have access to important matches in very good

Prices and this is why you see and you you are watching and seeing this type of matches being promoted I deal with the boxers the sportsmen and their promoters as my brothers they all have my private number and deal with me directly Street Fighter game you we are trying to

Uh impose or prevent present some new form of promotion of the of this game and you can see that it is inspired by this type of uh uh poster that you can see in front of you which is inspired by Street Fighter game Street Fighter game uh and

Andal Ring of Fire in 17 of February and you also see the posters and the promotion of the biggest fight which is going to happen on the 17th of February okay the ring of fire you understand now why is Joshua against angu I I do understand I don’t know but

Clearly there is an important match coming up you will see the result of this match it will connect about the result of the 17 of February this is our idea yeah thank you you’re excellent I hope I will tell they all all the people said

To me don’t talk like this angano but I I I think you will understand me you know I I look to you as a brother but I want someone to stop you I want the the the the boxing you’re yeah you know keep looking keep looking for somebody from the world of

Boxing to stop you yeah uh and uh I think it will be tough match you you see the last fion of Joshua we get him back and I think it will be something huge the result of this match it will go uh in the future in 24 we will try with

Eddie and Frank to deliver to the market very big fight this is the important thing and second I want to talk about two card I want to do in 24 and I want to see it the first card it’s between Frank against Eddie each one of them will choose five

Fighters and do night against each other done done we do that the third the third the third things I want to see arur and bubble and I want to see it in June and I will spoke with top rank inshallah about it all the fans want to see it in the

End I hope to have big fight and I want in the end to show Joshua and angu what’s waiting for them after the result please can you put it in the screen after the the result this is will wait for them after the result of the fight in the 8th of

March okay thank you everybody thank you and I hope you enjoy [Applause] it okay one question one more question that have time for your Excellency um you mentioned about making all these huge events in Saudi Arabia what’s your response to some of the promoters like Oscar De La Hoya saying that some fights

He’s not sure should go to Saudi Arabia we will miss him thank youc defin definitely a fantastic vision for boxing over the the coming years now back in October we witnessed an incredible back and forth contest between Francis andu and Ty Fury where I think to the shock of many in the boxing

Fraternity Francis andu gave Tyson Fury one of the toughest tests of his career and safe to say it was a superum effort in as a novice boxer in his first professional fight and his opponent Anthony Joshua coming into this bout on the back of a spiteful one-sided Victory against an opponent that many

Believe could be a banana skin in the road to regaining his heavyweight titles there’s bound to be fireworks now to start this off I want to go to Hall of Fame promoter Frank could you tell us a little bit more about your role Riad season’s role and his Excellency role in

Delivering these incredible fights that we’ve seen over the last few months and years well first of all I just like to say a thank you to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia the general entertainment authority of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia chairman his Excellency turkey Alan shik a CO co-promoters sell gold style matum

Boxing as well as 258 management and jimick for making this event knockout chaos happening this is the fourth event of the Riad season and just saying how it is if it wasn’t for his Excellency and his team and the support of Riad season of Saudi Arabia these fights just

Would not be happening that’s a fact it doesn’t matter which way you want to dress it up he has been instrument Al in making those fights H these fights happen the previous fights and instrumental in getting Eddie and myself sitting at the same table and we’ve just made another big

Fight that’s going to happen his best against our best we’re going to make that event happen this is just what boxing fans have been crying out for for years they’ve been begging for us to make the fights which sometimes have been not financially viable for us to

Make happen but now now it’s changed it’s happening so quickly so fast and it’s one after one great fight followed up by fantastic undercards brilliant undercards I mean it just keeps keeps coming and coming and coming we are in probably the Golden Age of boxing World Boxing without a

Doubt and if anybody doesn’t want to be on board then they’re a four I’m very disappointed that Oscar should say what he said he should know better than that this is is great for the sport the fights are happening and it’s down to his Excellency and his team and I am

For me at my age I’m 72 next month I’ve never seen anything or been involved in anything like this in boxing this is just brilliant and if you’re a boxing fan you’re in boxing heaven so for me personally and I think from everybody in boxing thank you your Excellency for all

You’ve done to help and make these events happen now Frank I think this is a fight that maybe even just a few months ago I think not many of us expected to be at the TBL here Anthony Joshua against Francis and Garo but with francis’s Incredible format against Tyson and of course

Anthony joshu coming off the back of two consecutive knockout victories there’s bound to be fireworks in this one there will be you know um I’ll say how it is but you know prior to the last fight with Tyson and Frances I genuinely genuinely thought that would be a tough

Fight for a short period of time but I then thought that Tyson would get the better of him and win the fight uh very early on but it turned out that France has uh done brought something to the to the boxing ring that I certainly never expected and that was that he could

Actually box we knew he was a tough competitor we knew he could punch we know that he’s going to be a handful on the inside because that’s the way MMA fighters fight but he was he was more than that he was a switch hitter he got his timing

Right and he he put Tyson I think through one of the toughest fight he’s had for a long long time he put him on the floor I will say I generally also felt that Tyson had an off night but and came through it all but you know this

Guy making a debut like that surprised everybody everybody was surprised and I think AJ I’m going to take my except me except for you that’s true and your team they’ve done a great job but I take my hat off to AJ for taking this fight because he’s he’s fighting somebody I

Know now there’s video footage and there’s foot you know you can see what Frances has done in a boxing ring which Tyson didn’t have the benefit of but you know what do Frances leared from his first fight is he going to be a better fighter because he going to look at

Things and feel that he could have done things differently that he can bring to the ring next time around so I think for for AJ I think he’s in a in I think he’s going to be in a tough fight I think this is knockout chaos cuz I think it

Will be a knockout they both got bombs in their hands and it’s going to be interesting to see how the fight develops you know I I do think it will be as the bell goes it I think because of their Styles it will be explosive so

For the fans it’s going to be something extra extra special and for the winner as his Excellency said the big fights happening on the 17th of February part game of the Riad season with Tyson and usk the winner of that would we like to see him with the winner of this fight

Everybody in this room would love to see that everybody in boxing would love to see that so everybody’s got something to aim for and it’s huge it’s a huge moment in time for for boxing heavyweight boxing has not seen this happen in my lifetime big fights start this happening

One after the other so it’s a fantastic moment Eddie I know you you enjoyed doing an interview which sometimes gets you into a little bit of trouble uh you were one of the first people to see you weren’t convinced about Francis ando’s boxing ability but after the Tyson Fury

Fight you were very quick to uh give him his flowers and commend him but you still believe there are levels between Francis andu and your man anony Joshua yeah I mean first he just want to Echo what Frank said um you know thanks to the Crown Prince and of course his

Excellency this this is like I likened this earlier this this whole experience to Championship manager right imagine being the biggest fan in the world of boxing and having the ability to sit in a room and put fights together at the drop of the hat that the fans want to

See and you know in just five months we have seen Fury against enanu the Day of Reckoning card Fury against usk AJ against enanu and so much more to come this is such an incredible opportunity for boxing and it’s being delivered and I know that you know we talk about his

Excellency a lot but you’re talking about someone who has an incredible passion for the sport of boxing someone that’s unbelievably knowledgeable I mean you know I thought that angu against Fury was going to be a mismatch and he he told me I think he said you’re going

To be wrong and I said Callum Smith was going to beat better be and he told me I was wrong and it’s it shows that he knows he’s boxing um I met Francis and gner we were just talking maybe just uh over or under a year ago in Las Vegas he

Told me about his ambition to be in big boxing events you know firstly I met a guy with an unbelievable story I met a guy with a very strong mind but I didn’t take him seriously if I’m honest I just have never known anybody to walks into a sport and

Compete and in my opinion and it was very close in my opinion beat Tyson Fury that night it’s never been done before you know he may be unlucky that he’s not sitting here as the world linear heavyweight champion on his profession debut so now as we said earlier we take

Him very seriously and after that fight which we give him unbelievable props for I said the biggest fight out there outside of Fury against usyk is Joshua against enanu and we’d already signed the Deontay Wilder Joshua fight and as soon as that show finished on December 23rd his Excellency said to myself and

Frank we need to talk what is the biggest event we can do on March the 8th and the answer was this in my opinion you have the two biggest fights in the heavyweight division happening within 3 weeks of each other in Saudi Arabia it is an incredible opportunity for AJ as

Frank says there there’s big Jeopardy in this fight this man is going to be the Undisputed heavyweight world champion I truly believe it but he’s doing it the difficult way going through obstacles and what some might call immovable objects in this man to my left the giant

Of a man the former UFC heavyweight world champion but now a guy that we take very very seriously in the sport of boxing this guy’s on a row he’s with a great team and uh we just cannot wait this is a a dream opportunity for the

Sport of boxing and we are also invested to give the fans incredible nights and this is another fantastic fight for rad season 100% now we’ve spoken about him it’s time to speak to somebody who knows him very well he trainer JY Cooper now JY your man shocked the world but didn’t

Necessarily shock your team in that incredible performance against Tyson Fury that must give you huge confidence going into this fight against Anthony Joshua first of all greetings to the media here in London salum to your Excellency turkey Alik um it was no surprise to us the

Tyson Fury fight we told you all from day one what was going to happen and the same thing applies here we expect fire but at the end of the day the Flaming fist of Francis will finish Joshua March 8 in R Saudi Arabia nice and nice and succinct I

Enjoy that now let’s speak to uh Francis and garu Francis your pre-fight confidence was Vindicated with your uh performance against uh Tyson Fury now when you said you left you left the UFC to to have the biggest fights with the biggest PS the biggest passses on the

Biggest stage it doesn’t get much bigger than this does it no um first of all I want to thank everybody here to show up to come here and make this press conference great thank you to my brother the Excellency uh for one more time again putting me in this position you know to

Live my dream uh have all those great experience such as the one that I had in R 2 months ago he was amazing so hopefully this will be the same thing uh and finish the same way um I’ve been sitting here listening people talking and uh even Edie praising

Me which I appreciate that but uh in the same time at the same time I’m not sure if he’s Hest or if he want just just want to get me sleep on his guy which that’s not going to happen I’m just a beginner out here that’s going to go

That’s going to train really hard and do everything and come as a underd to win the fight so I don’t take my last fight as a reference and think that I get this done and think that I get everything you know um I know exactly where I where I

Am at I’m just a beginner and uh I’m definitely going to come up better and um yes get better and better so so that’s my um that’s how I see things I’m getting prepared for a tough uh hot fight yes the the Tyson Fury fight was

Great it was awesome but that’s now in the past and I have a new challenge in front of me and I take it uh even more serious now uh than before because now I think there is something um there’s something more on the line which is probably the disputed though so let’s

See maybe I would do something that nobody have done before and I really believe that I have the tools of doing that um starting off uh having a win against AJ on uh on March 8th in riat which going to be a a big fight not an

Easy one but a possible one and I’m going to take that Francis you you haven’t pulled any punches in the buildup to this fight already you come out and said I’ve heard that AJ doesn’t have a chin I’m going to test that out is that your plan is it

Seek and Destroy well I’m going to fight him so what do you think I’m going to do is to find look for his chin I mean that’s what happened in the fight in case you in the fight you’re trying to hit somebody in the chin or wherever you

Can hit him right and then uh yes I heard that he doesn’t have a chin I don’t know if it’s true or not we’re going to out I hope I had the opportunity to test that out that’s my that’s my wish that’s what I’m wishing for it’s time to bring in Anthony Joshua

Unfazed by those comments at the moment AJ I’m sure as for you as it was for many of us here it’s a slight curve ball to be sat here with Francis andard on on that end of the table I know Wilder was a potential opponent after that uh Day

Of Reckoning fight that kind of went out of the window what was your first thoughts when you heard of Francis and gar as a potential opponent for you no problem just not it was you’ll fight anybody I know you’re chasing belts I know you want to be free time heavweight

Champion of the world is this part of that plan um every fight leads to somewhere so this fight is my everything my soul my spirit my mind my body and we’ll see where it leads me but right now I’m not thinking about any Championship belt or anything my main focus is

Frances and uh to be fair getting through uh intense focused training camp because realistically how I train is how I fight so if I get victory in my training camp I’m sure I’ll get Victory on the night so that’s what I’m focused on right now we’re going to put the

Belts on hold because my main focus is getting through training camp and getting to the fight successfully it feels like you and Ben have really jailed this like through the last camp and through now you know people are saying I know you don’t like to hear say

It’s the old AJ is back Etc what is it like working with him and and how have you found that and going into this fight it’s really good working with him the whole team at the Academy they’ve um they’ve helped a lot I still speak with

Derek Derek James in the states um but being home and um having someone just as good like I’m just searching for greatness really continuously searching for greatness how I can Elevate myself push forward in every aspect on my game and this is just another challenge and during these challenges I find out so

Much about myself even though I already know who I am I know I’m going to discover some new things about myself but things that can take me to higher Heights no doubt now before his boxing debut he was uh an unknown quantity now you’ve seen him for 10 Rounds you know

There is footage of him online you can actually look at and watch now what does he bring to the table that you got to watch out for um I won’t say too much but it brings to two arms a body like every other fighter does but it’s just his mind that’s

Different to everyone everyone has their own unique like they’re unique in their own way but in terms of the frame and the makeup of someone I’ve he’s seen people like me I’ve seen people like him many of times before but it’s just his mind i’ have to conquer in the ring you

Have to take someone’s Soul you have to take their spirit and I’m looking forward to the challenge for sure um and that’s it really it’s going to be good it’s going to be explosive got many any ways to skin a cat um I can counter punch he can counter punch we can both

Box as he’s proven himself too and we can both trade and U it was going to be a good good fight and shout out to his Excellency as well my promoter my whole team 258 for getting me in this position to Showcase why I’m the top heavyweight in the UK and I’m

Not really too concerned about the world I’m trying to conquer where I live I just want to conquer here and make everyone know that I’m the one who puts boxing on the map there’s a Riches of heavyweight around especially in the UK now to finish off before we go

To the face off I would like to give the final word to Eddie H Eddie no thank you uh Josh and and just to rep you know replicate what everybody said here thank you for all turning up and being part of a huge event like I

Said the the ability to sit um with his Excellency and Frank and and brainstorm about potential fights for the kingdom is is a blessing and it’s been very difficult to go through this press conference with the thought of mattran versus Queensbury and the five fight dust up that’s going to ensue

Later in the year but as a fight fan you know although Callum Smith suffered defeat at the weekend to hear him talk about bivo against better be I think everybody in this room these are the kind of matchups that we’ve been missing in boxing that can just happen so

Naturally when you’ve got someone who is so passionate and has the ability to make them happen so you know welcome to Francis and his team um and Anthony and you know to hear people talk about these potential matchups in a heavyweight Division and like I said if you can

Imagine the winner of this fight facing the winner of Fury against usyk and it’s been a long long dream of of Antony’s and all of the teams to become Undisputed Champion I know his focus is just on Francis and ganu but to have those opportunities is incredible and

You know get ready for an unbelievable event that that you know these guys are taking care of on February the 17th Fury against usyk Joshua and garu all within three weeks of each other just incredible opportunity for our Sport and and thank you for the passion and the vision boxing is definitely an

Incredible Place uh with thanks to R season uh and everyone who’s put this together it’s time for the face off there you go uh that one done and duster very quickly very quickly I needed a bit more I wanted more I wanted to hear more from and God an AJ but this

Is it right I guess talk is cheap and they’re going to throw hands at March 8th live on the Z that’s a Friday as well so again Mark kers that’s a Friday and look on that very quickly I’ve always thought that MMA boxing whatever it is should be every day like every

Other sport I hate that the fact it’s just a Saturday I grew up on ESPN Friday fight nights fighting should be every single day of the week so I think it’s a good thing that it’s on a Friday I agree with you we’ve got some Thursday events

I’ll fight any day of the week you know you boys know me yeah if there’s a fight to be had I’ll be watching or or getting involved I agree you know especially with all these fights being made we don’t want clashes this is going to be a

Massive Friday night event it’s going to make room for the weekend there’s going to be big fights on the weekend as well but this is going to cast a shadow over everything everything I I really want ingu to remove I love what he’s wearing as an African as well I think it’s

Fantastic he’s wearing African attire but I want to see the size of him I want to see this size comparison to AJ I’m desperate he is a unit isn’t he he’s a unit you were saying that I mean that the reach and height Advantage lies with

AJ but he’s a solid unit he’s a lump and ganu and and for me tactically he has to impose that size that presence from the off he needs to try and get close here we go this is it right come on get a bit close the gentlemen Don’t Be Afraid come

On you’re right I mean AJ You’ say what inch and a half taller yeah tiny tiny advantage in height but the the the depth of Inu is ridiculous and if you remember it was Fury that managed to get him to take his shirt off on the stage

In RI it was yes he’s not he’s not much for taking his shirt off which I don’t blame him if he’s you know I would if I had that physique I’d walk around stford naked top off all the time but look I mean look it’s going to be an incredible

Fight look it’s so hard to predict because this wasn’t in my thought process I already had AJ versus Wilder in my thought process and I had the breakdown of that I haven’t broken down anything yet because I didn’t expect this then no I mean it’s so it is really

Intriguing it’s it’s alien it’s unheard of Bary andu Fury fight but like I said before at the top of this the energy and you’ll agree Dan the energy before that first Bell is going to be electric it’s it’s going to be wild I mean you know it

Was on the night but just the anticipation of not really knowing what to expect and that to be honest was coming off the fighters in the camps as well because the whole event was a was a very special very unique situation you you guys know know will know this better

Than me Anthony Joshua did he seem very quiet or is he normally that that uh that composed at press conferences I think a bit quieter than usual I think I think he’s very stoic anyway he was against Oten he certainly was against helenius but I think he was a bit

Quieter than usual here and I look I do wonder if it’s because look he did call the fury and garu fight a gimmick fight and all of a sudden well now you’re in that spot and you’ve got to make sure that you make this look a lot easier

Than Fury did maybe I don’t know there’s going to be huge pressure you know that ring walk when he makes his way uh to the ring on Fight Night he’s going to be nervous because there’s going to be an awful lot of pressure there’s a lot

Riding on it the pressure is in you have to not only win that but you’ve got to look good yeah 100% well look at the big man’s here can we can we get him Mike no time to waste he’s joined us already let’s move up we Shuffle in a little bit

Yeah there he is on camera how are you good good good yeah yeah what was that like what was the you you’ve done a kind of semi face off already in Barcelona but you do it again what’s it like going sort of eye to eye with him normal yeah

Yeah yeah yeah you don’t win a face off you win a fight yeah that’s the key in boxing people will say oh he looked away first he looked away last he done that you don’t win a face off you win a fight so this is just protocol is it strange

For you again that preparation or the mindset at least I know you’re very strong on that would have been Wilder right you get past the a ofen it was Wilder Wilder for me was it never or just what a next opponent for you it was

It was Wallen okay okay but no I mean as soon as the job was done against Wallen he had already lost didn’t it okay so you’re already thinking of the next guy I was just thinking about Wallen yeah until my job was on I was like what’s

Next they said that Wilder is really off the table and I was like fair enough okay they’ll let me know what like my team’s a good team they let me know what the next opportunity was and it’s Frances we’re here and then March the 9th will be done and what will happen

March 8th March 9th will be done oh oh I love you and then like it’s crazy world we live in cuz then it’s just like what’s next yeah that’s how it goes in this yeah straight after I was like what’s next and this is the opportunity

Obviously it it’s a must- win the most important thing is to win this fight but in the back of your head are you thinking about outdoing what Fury done are you going to look for The Knockout if I’m honest not at all um you’d like to I’d like to hurt people definitely

Definitely I really do I really do but if you look at it every opponent that me and fury got in common I’ve knocked them out every opponent or I’ve stopped him yeah no you’re right you’re making me start thinking but you are corrector every opponent so I’ll just do what I need to

Do I’ve never been in competition with him anyway in that sense but if you are talking in facts and stats everyone that we F that similar I’ve ended up breaking their face or knocking them out so we’ll see what happens is is there anything that you can get from that Fury fight

Though from research you’ve got 10 rounds of research for Inu what can you get from it yeah yeah we research deep I’ll research a lot we can get a lot from it but also there’s going to be similarities in the little parts of standup that he has shown in his MMA

Career Also let’s say for example let’s say you’re Frances uh in MMA you’re someone that he’s fought that’s better at grappling you’re someone that he’s fought that’s better at standup so what I’ll tend to do is look at how he’s performed against a better standup opponent than someone

That’s grappling so there’s a lot of information that you can get from other opponents that he’s fought in MMA as well doing MMA research as well I like to hear that s G’s the guy for stand up by the way if you’re looking for someone

Bit research on Final one I know you got a go you got so many obligations to do it will be four fights in 12 months that’s a lot I mean that’s a lot how’s the body holding up to that cuz we don’t see that from not just from heavyweights

We don’t see it from anyone nowadays four fights in 12 months par Yeah Yeahs any any results were there to see yeah that’s what I’m saying so it shows activity is good do you know what it is obviously the body goes for a hell of a

Lot through training camp hell of a lot through training camp but also doesn’t mind Stronger Yeah and and um it’s rare that Fighters turn up to the ring 100% but we’re we’re good enough to fight that’s the main thing we we’ll always be ready to fight so four fights in a year

No problem I feel good I’ve really got to push myself Beyond certain limits in training camp let’s see how I how long my body holds up um but my goal is to be 100% fresh for this fight and go in there fitter stronger and smarter than I

Have been in my last performances can I come to training camp have a look don’t ask me go water carrier carry your Lucas for you and give be my um my video analysis guy there you go and that yeah see see what I’m saying I can I can do that

Nigerian stick together you know what I mean you know what I mean so many big fight so many big fights coming away on the Zone Mia John Ry is one of them he wants to Take On The World could it be the next big thing big right hand breaks through and Mia

Filling those gaps and goes D he’s taken on all challenges Heart of a Lion John Ry he’s a warri what a fight what a fight we have here in our main event we got Grace Under [Applause] Pressure so many big fights coming away on the Zone I mean Mia versus Ryder

Absolutely fantastic that’s a 50/50 scrap for me Conor Ben in action as well great to see Conor Ben in action against Dobson and then banga mcy all part of your done Zone subscription we make sure that you are well and truly covered here on theone as Anthony Joshua leaves Eddie

Hearn enters Eddie this is a big one he’s a big old lump jeez I mean he’s talking I’m looking at the size of his head and I’m thinking you are massive and then actually when I turned to AIA he actually looked tiny like for the first time like and this is the first

Time in his career he’s fighting anyone of even I mean equal size but certainly not someone that is bigger than him you know height maybe not but like in terms of mass and size this this ain’t going to be easy you know and the worst thing

Is you know I thought the fury and garu fight was going to be a mismatch obviously how wrong was I and then I started you know spinning my mouth after that saying Joshua will deal with him inside three rounds which can happen yeah but you know so much of elite level sport is

In the mind and this guy is a I mean you must know you’ve been around him for years and years and he’s a serious serious dude like this is not someone who just thinks he’s coming in for the payday he’s here to win and now the

Carrot as well you heard it from his excellency’s mouth basically the winner of this fight fights for the Undisputed championship against Fury usk winner so France and G’s looking at it going oh my God I could in my third fight I could become Undisputed heavyweight world

Champion with dram about it you know for AJ’s whole career we’ve been so close to challeng him for it and I just said to him just before the head to head I said two wins and you’re Undisputed world champion and we got to switch on now because this this this could be the

Trickiest of all of them because you just don’t know what you get gu those two wins apply to enanu as well Dan speak to the mentality of France’s enanu obviously someone that you know comes from your world MMA his mentality though is a bit different isn’t it it is

Absolutely and and you know it’s a good point you rais because you don’t know how his mentality is going to change now he’s done 10 rounds against Fury as well he knows he’s proven as a mixed martial artist he knows he can hang for 25

Minutes in the cage but now he knows he can hang in boxing gloves as well I I I wonder what you would think of him as a promoter if you walked into a gym in gu who’s never had an MMA boxing match and you saw him would you go he’s a special

Prospect I need to get him signed I said before the first fight like I I and I still stand by this I think Francis can lose at many levels of heavyweight boxing I’m talking about European level I’m about British title level but he can also win at those levels as well and

That’s the Jeopardy of heavyweight boxing like look at him against Tyson I mean I said up there what sport can you stroll into and I know he’s got a background but let’s be honest he’s never performed at any level in boxing in what sport or what competitor can you

Name that has strolled into the highest level of any sport you know it’s a bit like you having done a bit of running and going I I’ll take on you same Bol and losing getting pipped on the post what he did was in I thought he won he

Could have been the linear world heavyweight champion after in his debut and in his professional debut he fought Tyson Fury and in his second fight he’s fighting Anthony Joshua I mean he’s either going one and one or he’s going zero and two which is by the way no

Disgrace for the level he’s jumping into percentage wise I know you said he’s got a chance you believe he’s got a chance I’ll ask you both what percentage would you give andaru a chance of winning oh man honestly I give him a higher percentage than I did against

Against Fury I thought Fury was going to get to him eventually Tire him out but I feel like this is a better matchup because AJ’s a bit more fundamentally sound in his movement I feel like there’s going to be more for inonu to work off but at the same time he doesn’t

Have the surprise Factor here so I feel like that’s a detriment to him it’s it’s it’s a difficult fight to call but for me I prefer this matchup honestly than I think as well what You’ got to do against enanu is you have to you have to

Wear him out and fury because of the the caution that he showed through getting caught and feeling the power and also don’t forget he was about to announce the usyk fight in the ring after after about three rounds just went you know what I’m just going to get on my bike

Here I saw parts of that fight where in ganu looked like he could be on the verge of getting tired but Fury never made him work so AJ I want to see him work I want to see him making Inu think stabbing the body you know that straight

Right hand to the body that he showed against wiing you know I say being strong in the clinch I don’t know how you can be strong in the clinch against this guy but just making him work but that comes with risk you know on the other side should AJ just sit you know

In and out of range and just be smart just pick him apart but he doesn’t have speed to concern him the speed he’s going to be when they’re up close and you know AJ likes to trade up on the inside at times and the reason that angu

Is so dangerous he will throw with you that’s how he dropped Fury Fury Fury through a combination and and ganu through and we saw that in the likes of the Andy Riz fight where Joshua had him hurt and and and and mauce decided to Fight Fire with Fire you know and G’s

Going to do that yeah away from this one very quickly obviously look we were supposed to be here for Deontay Wilder this was supposed to be AJ versus Wilder are supposed to be the biggest heavyweight fight we’ve probably ever seen was AJ disappointed yeah we all

Were you know and it’s like you still read the comments like oh AJ and Eddie were so happy that Wilder lost are you mad I mean one it was an absolute Fortune number two it was like I and I know Wilder was poor that night but you

Saw why we were so confident in that fight we truly believe that was a great match out for us and Wilder even as poor as he was can still beat anyone on any given night so you know after the fury and ganu fight I remember you know going

Back to my hotel room that night thinking that’s the fight AJ against enanu look at the size of them you imagine those two when they weigh in like they are two absolute you know atoms and I think it’s the best fight and you know straight after that fight

December 23rd when Wilder lost myself and Frank went straight to his excellencies and he said to us what are we going to do he said what’s the biggest fight we can possibly make I said mate there’s only one Joshua and Garner and you know as the you know the

The magic man bang and it’s it’s up and running and like tell me a bigger fight in a heavyweight division outside of Fury USC there isn’t one and and when these two come together and that Bell Rings it’s going to be a sight to behold in Riad it really is final one Eddie

Before we let you go we heard his Excellency talk about you put your five Fighters up and Frank does he as well is that realistic is that just all funing games are we going to see Riad last time right where all talking about all these shows and his Excellency say you know

What I want to do you versus you your best five against his best five you know massive opportunities for Fighters I said winning bonuses for the team you imagine where you’ve got a team event right you could be on First and you get beaten on points but you know if the

Matchroom team wins you’re coping a bonus as well you’ll be you’ll be stitched up backstage running to ringside screaming for everybody we have a reality TV show for you know the matum house the Queens house great opportunities and we were saying earlier like so many different levels you’ve got

Fury against Joshua but you’ve got fights like to to begin the night like you know Nathaniel Collins Against Hobie price just been ordered for British boxing Board of control shabaz massud against Liam Davis these are just the the the small ones to start off Callum Smith against yard you know of course

Like I said Fury against like there’s so many fights we can do together and you know it was going to take something pretty special to get me and Frank you know we were actually we were boulderline having Christmas dinner you know it was it was that Progressive so

Um you know long may it continue and what a time for the sport what a time for the sport as well remember isn’t just boxing on the Zone we’ve got you covered with so many different sports as well this is what’s coming up in 2024 you only have two options either

Run with us or run from us [Applause] yesu so many great matchups on this night oh it’s gone in that battle commence my goodness what a knockout I’m the badest mother on the planet Jake Paul can have a very bright future in the pfl what a strike this is the zone and

There’s plenty more miles to go before we sleep loads of sports loads of sports on the zone and that’s what it’s about as well look obviously big boxing fan but it’s good to have other sports on the platform as well you’re big you love you love everything you do everything yeah

I’m not good at anything else just Sport and I know you follow absolutely every sport when it comes to sports anything where someone’s getting punched in the face there’s plenty of MMA on theone as well you got pfl and octagon all kinds of stuff on there yeah indeed I like

That um Eddie looked a bit nervous yeah