“I’m already a champion in life,” Francis Ngannou’s deep voice croons. He is right. Both the sports and life stories of the 37-year-old Cameroonian, who faces Anthony Joshua in another blockbuster heavyweight bout in Riyadh on Friday night, are remarkable.
Ngannou left his hometown of Batie 11 years ago and headed north, where he worked in local sand mines from the ages of 10 to 16 to support his single mother and four siblings. His journey out of poverty and Africa included being detained as an illegal immigrant in Spain and later living on the streets of Paris; but he has become the most feared heavyweight cage fighter in the UFC world in Las Vegas.
Now the physical giant has switched to boxing. He “shocked the world” in his professional boxing debut in October last year, nearly defeating Tyson Fury – considered by many to be the world’s No. 1 heavyweight – and then facing Joshua in another mega-fight dubbed “Knockout Chaos” is coming.
Ngannou, who stands six feet tall, 18½ stone and goes by the cagey nickname “Predator”, has an ominous presence when seated just meters away, yet the answer to every question is delivered in thoughtful, soft-spoken tone. The way he spoke, his English was laced with a slight French accent.
Ngannou left Cameroon “with the dream of becoming a world champion in boxing, inspired by seeing Mike Tyson” and sought a life in France in his mid-twenties. He traveled through Nigeria, Niger and Algeria on foot and fixing lifts, then crossed the Sahara Desert on the back of a truck, finding his way to Morocco. Although he never learned to swim, he climbed the barbed wire fence at the border and tried to cross the Mediterranean by boat six times. He avoided Moroccan border forces by sleeping in the forests, and when he entered Spain after a more successful boat trip, he was detained for two months as an illegal immigrant. After receiving refugee status, he went to Paris, living on the streets and sleeping in parking lots at night, then found a mixed martial arts gym. This changed his life. He hit the gym, devoted himself to the sport, and became the UFC heavyweight champion in 2021. His life changed again last October against Fury.
Has Ngannou’s perspective changed in the last five months? “My life changed a long time ago and is always evolving…” he tells Telegraph Sport, admitting that his journey “hopefully carries a message of hope about becoming a person who can achieve dreams.”
It is undoubtedly a special life story. “I think anyone can do anything they set their mind to, as long as they believe in it, do the right thing, and don’t give up on their own dreams.”
Pausing, Ngannou adds: “That’s the only way you can really claim to be alive, you know, living with your own dreams and your own rules, don’t let people’s opinions mislead you in life or distract you from your own life.” dreams. So no matter what you’re going through, take care of your own life, take care of your dreams, dreams are free…”
Ngannou, who is friends with Mike Tyson, had his dreams come true against Fury last October in a bout the African fighter was expected to lose. He defied the odds again. When he returned to his hotel in Riyadh that night from the Kingdom Stadium, his mother and sister danced to “Francis est gagne”. [Francis has won]. Francis had indeed won. He was many viewers’ champion, though not in eye test scores. His journey into the world of boxing had begun.
Dewey Cooper, a former professional kickboxer and Ngannou’s trainer since 2017, sits next to the fighter during this interview. When we take a break from talking, the coach intervenes: “Francis has endless athletic potential, and Joshua is the big test to see how far he can take it. Every fighter’s belief in himself is paramount, but the intangibles that Francis has in him are key because he’s been failing his whole life. “He had built a fortitude himself a long time ago, long before this fight thing happened… and when the two heavy punchers meet on March 8, intangibles could be the key.”
Ngannou intervenes. “I am a world champion, maybe not in boxing but a world champion in my own life. The question is, is this the journey to become a world boxing champion? I don’t know… I want to have good fights, you know, but being a boxing champion isn’t really on my radar. I just want to make sure I have these good fights, these good challenges and see where I’m at. “I started my boxing career by fighting two of the toughest fights a heavyweight could expect… I love it.”
Ngannou knocked out Fury in the third round of their bout, but Joshua? “Do I think I’m going to knock out Joshua? I don’t know. Can I knock out Joshua? Yes, I can knock him out. I believe I can knock him out, but I’m not going out there looking for a knockout. “I’m going there to fight and win.”