Former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou made a massive impression on the boxing world when he went the distance against current WBC champion Tyson Fury last year, in what was surely among the best debuts in the history of the sport.

The fact that Fury wasn't able to end the fight early is a big feather in Ngannou's cap, and with two-time former unified heavyweight champion Joshua next in line to take on the MMA star, comparisons will no doubt be made.

Joshua and Fury already have a long-standing rivalry despite never having squared off in a ring, and Joshua's performance against Ngannou will almost certainly be compared to that of his fellow Brit.

Will "AJ" be looking to better Fury's performance against Ngannou in March?

"If I'm honest? Not at all," he told DAZN when asked if one-upping Fury is on his mind while preparing to fight Ngannou.

Not that he wouldn't like to, of course. However, Joshua pointed out that the common opponents that he shares with Fury — Dillian Whyte, Wladimir Klitschko, Kevin Johnson and Otto Wallin — have all met a similar fate.

"I like to hurt people, definitely," Joshua explained. "But if you look at every opponent that me and Fury have got in common, I've knocked them out. Every opponent. Or I've stopped them.

"So I'll just do what I need to do [against Ngannou]. I've never been in competition with [Fury] anyway, in that sense, but if you are talking and facts and stats, everyone that we fought that's similar, I've ended up breaking their face or knocking them out, so we'll see what happens."