CAGE TO CENTRE STAGE

Ngannou: If it was just about money I would have stayed in UFC... but there was something missing that boxing can fill

- CHRIS MCKENNA

FRANCIS NGANNOU has claimed his bid to make it in boxing is not down to money despite the eye-watering sums the MMA fighter is making in the sport.

Cameroon man-mountain Ngannou has promised to put British heavyweight star Anthony Joshua to "sleep" when they meet on March 8 in Saudi Arabia.

It would certainly be an upset to make the division. stand up and take notice again after he almost shocked WBC champion Tyson Fury on his debut last October.

Ngannou has claimed that this dip into boxing is his lifelong dream and not a way to make bigger bucks than in the UFC, where he was a heavyweight champion.

"I left the UFC at the top of my game, I was in the best moment in my career, even the UFC in order to keep me was willing to really pay me," said Ngannou, who will earn eight figures for the Joshua clash.