AJ 'just wants Ngannou to fight for bragging rights over Fury', claims ex-champ

ANTHONY JOSHUA has been accused of fighting Francis Ngannou solely as a means to trap Tyson Fury.

Ngannou put his MMA career on hold last year to make the switch to the boxing ring to face Fury in October.

And Fury almost suffered the most disastrous of nights after being dropped in the third round and taken to the wire in ten rounds.

He managed to escape with a controversial split decision, keeping his undisputed title decider with Oleksandr Usyk, scheduled for February 17, alive.

So when a rematch was out of the question, Ngannou struck a deal with AJ, whose superfight with Deontay Wilder was blown up after the American was defeated.

But retired former super-middleweight champion Carl Froch believes Joshua is only fighting Ngannou to try and improve Fury's performance.

He told Lord Ping: “It's bad for boxing because who wants to watch it?

“Because if Joshua wins, what has he done? What has he achieved? F*** everyone.

“All he wants to do is brag and say he did better than Fury, but nobody cares.

“Joshua-Ngannou is a pointless fight. It does nothing for boxing.

ANTHONY JOSHUA VS FRANCIS NGANNOU: ALL THE DETAILS YOU NEED FOR A HUGE CROSSOVER CASE

“Sure, it keeps him busy while he waits for the winner of Fury versus Usyk, but why not fight a real boxer; fight Zhilei Zhang, fight Joe Joyce, fight Daniel Dubois.

“There are fights available for Joshua against top contenders and real boxers. But instead he jumps into a pointless exhibition with Ngannou.”

Despite Froch's blast, boxing bosses in Saudi Arabia want the winner of Fury and Usyk's unification fight to go on to fight Joshua and Ngannou.

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