Eddie Hearn has blasted Francis Ngannou, insisting the 37-year-old should 'know better' after he suggested he was sabotaged during his recent defeat to Anthony Joshua.
Joshua was at his brilliant and bruising best earlier this month, needing just two rounds to get the better of his opponent.
Eddie Hearn has blasted Francis Ngannou, insisting the 37-year-old should 'know better' after he suggested he was sabotaged during his recent defeat to Anthony Joshua.
Joshua was at his brilliant and bruising best earlier this month, needing just two rounds to get the better of his opponent.
Boxing news: Eddie Hearn has blasted Francis Ngannou following his recent defeat to Anthony Joshua
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"What I think, something that happened is that they got me to the arena very early, like 1030pm, and then when we get to the arena they tell me that I am scheduled to fight at about 145am and then around 1am they come to the locker and Joshua hasn’t arrived," he told MMA Hour.
“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.'”
Yet Hearn has now taken issue with Ngannou's comments and said the 37-year-old should 'know better'.
“I was baffled," he told Boxing Social.
"It is a bit disappointing really, he said that they got him to the arena [an hour 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.
"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.”
With Ngannou losing both of his two boxing fights so far, his future in the sport is currently shrouded in uncertainty.
And the Cameroonian has confessed he's unsure what the future holds for him, a return to MMA not ruled out.
"Right now, I don't know," he said when asked about his plans.
“I started to feel like boxing now owes me something that I have to claim.
"The way that this fight happened is not the way that it’s supposed to or that it should have.
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Boxing news: Francis Ngannou was knocked out cold by Anthony Joshua during their fight earlier this month
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"I think now I need to do boxing now to claim something. To claim my respect, to claim my dignity, to claim everything.
“MMA is there. I don’t really know. It depends on the time frame of what’s happening. But maybe it could be MMA first. I don’t really know.”
He added: “I think I still get excited about the idea of fighting MMA.
Boxing news: Francis Ngannou is unsure about his future after being brutally beaten by Anthony Joshua
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“MMA now is not like the easier one, but the usual one. ... In any fight you can lose, but at least in MMA there are a lot of things I understand, a lot of things that can be controlled, unlike boxing, which is the wild west.
"And it’s a little bit more comfortable, to be honest. I have my own experience there.”
