Francis Ngannou told his excuse for losing to Anthony Joshua is "baffling"

Eddie Hearn has told Francis Ngannou to stop making excuses for his brutal KO loss to Anthony Joshua.

Former UFC champion Ngannou was put down twice by Joshua in their fight earlier this month before 'AJ' closed the show with a thunderous right hand in the second round. Ngannou has since produced a lengthy list of excuses for his defeat, even blaming his arrival time to the arena in Saudi Arabia for making him tired.

"I remember being in the locker [room] trying to warm up, and it wasn't going well. I was falling asleep. I'm sweating, but I was falling asleep. We received a schedule, an email, and then for some reason I was there at [the arena] least one hour before. But for the fight, at least two hours beforehand. They do this kind of trick to get you tired," Ngannou said.

Hearn reacted to Ngannou's comments by telling Boxing Social: "I was baffled. It is a bit disappointing really. He said that 'They got him to the arena (early).' Who is they? You get given times by the broadcaster. He said that he was made to come to the arena early to tire him out for the fight, which is really an inexperienced boxing guy talking here, he should know better.

"'You get your time, which is the ideal time that the organiser or the broadcaster would like you there, you make your own mind up. Some fighters like to get there three hours before, some like to get there an hour before, it all depends on the fighter. When you say tire him out, he's only sitting on a sofa in a changing room. It's up there with the Deontay Wilder costume [excuse].

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"These guys want to sometimes look at reasons because taking defeat is very difficult. When they get beat it hurts, Ngannou is a great warrior and when you get knocked out like that he's like 'I don't understand what happened in there'. You were outclassed by probably by the best heavyweight in the world."

Ngannou is not done with boxing but is expected to make his MMA return in his next fight. The Cameroonian signed with rival MMA promotion PFL just months after leaving the UFC and will face Renan Ferreira in his promotional debut after the Brazilian's impressive 21-second KO against Ryan Bader in February.