Those that say former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight
champ Francis
Ngannou “fumbled the bag” could not be more wrong.
According to Ariel
Helwani on Friday, Ngannou (0-1 Box) will take on Anthony
Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) at a currently undisclosed date in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This news has been confirmed by Turki
Al-Sheikh, the Chairman of General Authority for Entertainment in
Saudi Arabia. The two heavyweights will battle it out over the
course of 10 professional rounds, and no belts will be on the line.
Per
MMA Junkie, the match will reportedly be held on March 9.
This will be Ngannou’s second trip to the boxing ring, with his
first a razor-close split decision loss to Tyson Fury
in October 2023. “The Predator” made shockwaves in the boxing—and
MMA—community by knocking Fury down in Round 3, but two of three
judges awarded the bout in favor of Fury. Ngannou famously departed
the UFC at the beginning of 2023, where he was signed by Professional Fighters League to a non-exclusive
deal. Ngannou has yet to compete for PFL, and a date for his MMA
debut with the league is still unknown.
Joshua, the former WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring heavyweight
champ surrendered all of those belts to Oleksandr Usyk in
back-to-back outings in 2021 and 2022. The power-punching Brit
suffered a unanimous decision loss, and then a split decision
setback to go on his first losing streak of his career. Since then,
Joshua rebounded by rattling off three wins in 2023, including
knockouts of Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin—the latter a corner
stoppage. As a pro, Joshua’s only decision wins have come over
Joseph Parker, Andy Ruiz
Jr. in their rematch and Jermaine Franklin, with the remainder
of his victories coming before the final bell.