ANTHONY JOSHUA has been accused of fighting Francis Ngannou only as a means to one-up Tyson Fury.

Ngannou last year put his MMA career on hold to cross over to the boxing ring to face Fury in October.

Anthony Joshua squaring off with Francis NgannouCredit: Getty

And Fury almost suffered the most disastrous of nights having been dropped in round three and taken to the wire over ten rounds.

He managed to escape with a controversial split-decision, keeping his undisputed title decider with Oleksandr Usyk, set for February 17, alive.

So with a rematch ruled out, Ngannou struck a deal with AJ, whose super-fight with Deontay Wilder was blown after the American was beaten.

But retired former super-middleweight champion Carl Froch believes Joshua is only fighting Ngannou to try and better Fury’s performance.

He told Lord Ping: “It’s bad for boxing because who wants to watch it?

“Because when Joshua wins, what’s he done? What’s he achieved? F*** all.

“All he wants is bragging rights to say he did a better job than Fury, but no one cares.

“Joshua-Ngannou is a pointless fight. It’s doing nothing for boxing.

“Sure, it keeps him ticking over while he waits for the winner of Fury versus Usyk, but why not fight a real boxer; fight Zhilei Zhang, fight Joe Joyce, fight Daniel Dubois.

“There are fights available to Joshua against top contenders and real boxers. But instead he’s jumping in with Ngannou in a pointless exhibition.”

Despite Froch’s blast, boxing bosses in Saudi want the winner of Fury and Usyk’s unification bout to then fight the victory of Joshua and Ngannou.

Tyson Fury facing off with Oleksandr UsykCredit: EPA

Former super-middleweight world champion Carl FrochCredit: AFP