Anthony Joshua ready to show world he has found his mojo again in Francis Ngannou fight

From the outside at least, Anthony Joshua appears to have rediscovered his mojo.

The engaging Briton, a two-time world heavyweight champion, has cut a contented figure in Saudi Arabia this week, as the build-up to his looming win-or-bust bout with crossover mixed martial arts star Francis Ngannou reaches its crescendo in Riyadh on Friday night.

“Knockout Chaos”, the catchy and captivating tagline for a clash that pits against one another two former heavyweight title-holders from different disciplines, feels an apt description. Both Joshua and Ngannou are physical specimens; both possess the power to put the other’s lights out.

However, it is the mental aspect that could decide the 10-round contest at Kingdom Arena. And while Joshua’s prodigious frame and physical prowess forged his resplendent rise to sporting superstardom, when it all began to unravel, it was the space between the ears that copped most of the criticism.

Those were the suspicions heading into last December dust-up with Otto Wallin, also in the Saudi capital, highlighted pre-fight by the dangerous Swedish southpaw, and parroted by Deontay Wilder, the former WBC champion at the time considered next in line to test Joshua’s fractured mettle.

The Englishman, for once, did not engage, his words brief, his responses curt. Given he came into the bout with questions still swirling regarding his resolve at the elite-end of professional boxing, it was deemed as further sign of a once-impenetrable force of nature slipping deeper into the darkness.

But Joshua’s performance that night pulled him back into the light. He eased to a fifth-round TKO in a performance full of the old bite, and, perhaps more crucially, spite.

Granted, Wallin was cherry-picked. Yes, he rode