Tony Bellew has warned Anthony Joshua that he will be facing 'the baddest man on the planet' when he steps into the ring with Francis Ngannou.
ellew claims Ngannou is a 'phenom' and believes he has an unbelievable mental capacity to get him through fights.
Joshua and Ngannou will go head to head in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on March 8 in the Brit's fourth bout in the space of 11 months.
His Cameroon-born opponent has had just one professional boxing match to date but did almost pull off a huge upset against Tyson Fury last October.
Anthony Joshua has been sent a chilling warning by Tony Bellew
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Ngannou has spent the vast majority of his fighting career in MMA and could return to the sport later this year.
But he is determined to make his mark in boxing and is confident he will have too much for Joshua next month.
Bellew has followed Ngannou's career back to his time in the UFC and claims he is 'the strongest fighting machine' he has seen.
The former WBC cruiserweight champion also claimed no person in the world would beat Ngannou in a fight down a dark alley.
Asked if it would be crazy if Ngannou beat Joshua, Bellew told iFL TV: "No. Why would it be crazy? He’s a man with two arms and two legs.
"I'll tell you right now, he is single-handily the baddest man on the planet.
"Nobody in the whole world is fighting with that man in a dark alley and coming out winning. No one.
"That guy is probably the strongest fighting machine I've ever witnessed. I witnessed him in a cage.
"I witnessed that man throw a punch so hard he knocked Derrick Lewis down with the wind that missed him. He missed and it put Derrick Lewis down.
"And Derrick Lewis is a big lump by the way. So Francis Ngannou is a phenom, he's a freak athlete.
"In a boxing ring he's a total different kind of breed. If I'm being totally honest, his strongest attribute is his mental capacity and his mental strength.
"Not his boxing ability or skills. So let's just see how it goes."
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Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou will battle it out in Riyadh on March 8
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Bellew believes Joshua has the technique and skill to outbox Ngannou and must ensure mentality doesn't play a big part.
He added: "Joshua can box him all day. He’s a far better boxer and technically far superior.
"You just got to take away his will and take away his mental strength and his mental capacity.
"If you keep making someone miss and picking up on their technical flaws because he has them, he has many of them. But we've been blinded by what happened with Fury.
Tyson Fury was caused issues by Francis Ngannou on his professional debut
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"Only a fool would believe that Tyson Fury was in amazing shape going into that fight."
But Bellew ultimately thinks that Joshua will come out on top.
He concluded: "He's not going to beat Joshua. Ain't happening."
