Joshua is the clear favourite to win in Riyadh but Ngannou, the 37-year-old former UFC star preparing for only his second professional boxing contest, went the full 10 rounds with Tyson Fury last year and floored the WBC champion in a match-up he controversially lost on points.

That will give Joshua, 34, plenty to think about as he eyes a potential world title fight against Filip Hrgovic, or a bout against the winner of May’s showdown between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.

“We were doing the promo and he was very chilled, very relaxed,” Ngannou told reporters at a workout on Tuesday.

“I think we are both professional enough to know what we have to do to get to where we want to go.”
“I asked him if he was OK, because he looked a little nervous or something. I asked him if he was OK, because I was OK. I had no problems. I was just talking around, laughing.

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