Francis Ngannou interview: I was detained for being an illegal immigrant

“I’m already a champion in life,” purrs the deep voice of Francis Ngannou. He is right. Both the sporting story and the life story of the 37-year-old Cameroonian, who faces Anthony Joshua on Friday night in another blockbuster heavyweight rumble here in Riyadh, are remarkable.

Ngannou left his native Batie, where he worked in the local sand mines from the age of 10 to 16 to help provide for his single mother and four siblings, 11 years ago to head north. That journey out of poverty and out of Africa included being detained in Spain as an illegal immigrant and later living on the streets of Paris, but he went on to become the most feared heavyweight cage fighter in the world of UFC in Las Vegas.

Now, the physical behemoth has crossed into boxing. He “shocked the world” in October last year in his first professional boxing match, almost defeating Tyson Fury – widely considered the world’s No 1 heavyweight – and next he faces Joshua in another mega fight that has been entitled “Knockout Chaos”.

Ngannou, 6ft 5in, 18-and-a-half stone and known as “The Predator” by cage sobriquet, has an ominous presence when sitting just a few feet away, yet the answer to every question is delivered in a thoughtful, softly-spoken manner, his English laced with a lilting French accent.

Ngannou left Cameroon with “a dream of being a world champion in boxing, inspired by seeing Mike Tyson” and in his mid-twenties he sought out a life in France. He travelled through Nigeria, Niger and Algeria on foot and by securing lifts, then crossed the Sahara Desert in the back of a truck and found his way to Morocco. He climbed barbed-wire fences at borders and attempted to cross the Mediterranean in a dinghy six times, even though he had never learnt to swim. He steered clear of Moroccan border forces by sleeping in the forests and when he did eventually enter Spain after a more successful dinghy journey, he was detained for two months as an illegal immigrant. Once afforded refugee status, he went to Paris, living on the streets and sleeping in car parks at night, before finding a mixed martial arts gym. That changed his life. He moved into the gym, dedicated himself to the sport and by 2021 he became UFC heavyweight champion. Last October, his life changed again against Fury.

Has Ngannou’s outlook changed in the past five months? “My life changed a long time ago, and it’s always improving…” he tells Telegraph Sport, agreeing that his journey “hopefully carries a message of hope, of being a human being who can make dreams come true”.

Without doubt, it is a special life story. “I do feel that, that everybody can do anything that he puts his mind on as long as he believes in it, as long as he does the right thing and, you know, doesn’t give up on his own dream.”

Pausing, Ngannou adds: “That’s the only way that you can really claim to be alive, you know, living by your own dream and by your own rules, don’t let people’s opinions trip you over in life or take you away from your dreams. So whatever you have going on, own your own life, own your dreams, dreams are free…”

Befriended by Mike Tyson, Ngannou’s dreams came true against Fury last October in a contest the African fighter was expected to lose. Yet again, he defied the odds. On his return from the Kingdom Stadium to his hotel in Riyadh that night, his mother and sister danced as they sung “Francis est gagne” [Francis has won]. Francis truly had won. On the eye test, if not on points, he was the champion of many onlookers. His journey into the boxing world had begun.

Dewey Cooper, a former professional kick-boxer and Ngannou’s trainer since 2017, is sitting with the fighter during this interview. As we break from talking, the coach chips in: “Francis has endless athletic potential and Joshua’s a big test to show how far he can take it. Every fighter’s self-belief is paramount, but it’s the intangibles Francis has in him which are key because he’s been down his entire life. He has built a fortitude himself a long time ago, way before this fight thing ever happened... and the intangibles could be the key when two raw punchers meet on March 8.”

Ngannou interjects. “I’m a world champion, maybe not in boxing, but I’m a world champion in my life. If the question is, is this a journey to become the boxing world champion? I don’t know... I want to have good fights, you know, but becoming a boxing champion is not really what is on my radar. I just want to make sure I have these good fights, these good challenges, and see where I am at. I started my boxing career by taking the two potentially toughest fights that you could expect as a heavyweight... I love that.”

Ngannou knocked Fury down in the third round of their encounter, what about Joshua? “Do I think I will knock Joshua out? I don’t know. Can I knock Joshua out? Yes, I can knock him out. And I believe I can knock him out, but I’m not going there to look for a knockout. I’m going there to fight and to win.”