Eddie Hearn has slammed Francis Ngannou for appearing to suggest that his demolishing defeat by Anthony Joshua was down to his early arrival at the arena.
Joshua knocked down the former UFC heavyweight champion three times in two rounds to secure a dominant victory in Saudi Arabia.
Ngannou, in a recent interview on the MMA Hour, said that he arrived at the Kingdom Arena, in Riyadh, two hours earlier than Joshua, appearing to suggest that this was a ‘trick’ to tire him out.
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Joshua’s promoter Hearn has taken exception with the comments, suggesting the 37-year-old ‘should know better’.
He told Boxing Social: ‘I was baffled. It is a bit disappointing really.
‘He said they got him to the arena (early), who is they? You get given times by the broadcaster.
‘He said that he was made to come to the arena early to tire him out for the fight, which is really an inexperienced boxing guy talking here, he should know better.
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‘You get your time, which is the ideal time that the organiser or the broadcaster would like you there, you make your own mind up.
‘Some fighters like to get there three hours before, some like to get there an hour before, it all depends on the fighter.
‘If AJ is told for example that “we want you there at 10 ‘o’clock” and we know that the fight is happening at 1am, then we would come a little bit later, because he doesn’t want to be hanging around that long.’
Hearn also reacted to a social media post which contained Ngannou’s comments, stating: ‘I’m not sure he has come round yet.’
Ngannou after the fight confessed that he couldn’t remember being knocked out by Joshua and that from going back to his stool in between the first and second rounds, he ‘wasn’t there anymore‘.
In his interview on the MMA Hour, when asked if fighting late around 3am ‘screwed’ him up, he replied: ‘We both fight at 3am but what I think, something that happened is that they got me to the arena very early, like 10.30pm.
‘Then, when we get to the arena they tell me that I am scheduled to fight at about 1.45am and then around 1am they come to the locker and Joshua hasn’t arrived.
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‘And I’m like we’re fighting at the same time but for some reason I was there for the fight at least two hours before him.
‘Even during the week we had to go places and wait. Dewey was like “they do this kind of trick to get you tired.”
