Francis Ngannou’s coach has warned Anthony Joshua that a fight with the former UFC star ‘isn’t for the weak’ due to his ‘ungodly power’.
The two men are set to meet on March 8, with millions from all over the world primed to tune in.
Joshua goes into the fight on a high having beaten the likes of Otto Wallin, Robert Helenius and Jermaine Franklin Jr over the past year.
Yet Ngannou will be looking to continue his brilliant start to his boxing career, having pushed Tyson Fury all the way when they met back in October.
And his coach, Dewey Cooper, has now sent a chilling warning to Joshua by saying he’ll be facing a man with ‘ungodly power’.
“As far as his punching power, no that was something that he naturally had,” he told The Sun when discussing Ngannou’s stunning rise to the top.
“He dug sand mines as a kid all the way up to his early 20s.
“Of course, his DNA, his Cameroonian heritage and that hard manual labour as a kid all the way up, I feel was the main attribute to that ungodly power.”
Ngannou’s punching power was once tested and found to be the equivalent to 96 horse power.
To put that into perspective, it means receiving a punch from the French-Cameroonian star is like being hit by a moving Ford Escort.
And Cooper has admitted coaching Ngannou isn’t for the ‘weak or meek’, revealing he himself has sustained injuries in training.
“I had to change my body shield three or four different times because he was killing me,” he continued.
“I was going home with injured ribs all the time but I finally got a really good body pad – and it still hurts even now.
“But I’m just barley tough enough to take it. Remember, coaching Francis Ngannou isn’t for the weak or the meek.
“The saying, ‘It felt like he got hit by a bus’, I feel that every training session, I’m used to it now.
“It’s gigantic power, it’s enormous power and that’s gonna be on display March 8th and that’s for damn sure.”
Eyebrows were raised when the fight between Joshua and Ngannou was announced.
Joshua had previously aimed digs at Fury for choosing to fight the former UFC star.
And Johnny Nelson thinks AJ’s career could be ‘in tatters’ if he’s unable to come out on top out in the Middle East.
“Common sense is risk-reward. For me, the risk way outweighs the reward,” he told Sky Sports News.
“If Joshua somehow loses to Ngannou, that is it – credibility is gone, career is in tatters, and it is a lot of rebuilding.
“How is he ever going to get his head around losing to Ngannou? The risk is far too high, why would you?
“You’ve got no excuse to lose to this guy. He’s had one professional boxing match.
“If you lose to him, all the Olympics, all the success, being two-time heavyweight champion, it is all gone, it has gone up in smoke because that is what you remember, you lost to a guy who had one previous fight before you.
“The risk far outweighs the reward. To me, common sense, I wouldn’t do it.
“Business-wise, I wouldn’t do it, but Ngannou has got himself into a position where you cannot ignore him.”
He continued: “Joshua, he needs to get these wins, the pride he has.
“To possibly lose to Ngannou, how would he be able to lift himself mentally, never mind how the press will crucify him?
“So, he understands what he has got to do – and I suppose we all do.”
