A heavyweight boxing bout between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou has been agreed upon for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia’s Chairman, Turki Alalshikh, made the announcement on social media on Friday.
March 9th is the fight date, according to sources who spoke to ESPN.
Before Joseph Parker stunned Deontay Wilder last month, Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) was scheduled to face the former champion on March 9 in Riyadh. Later that evening, Joshua stopped Otto Wallin in the fifth round via TKO after Wallin had suffered a nose fracture.
The Joshua-Wilder fight was supposed to be the main attraction of the Dec. 23 show in Riyadh, but Alalshikh has now moved on to what could be an even more exciting battle for AJ.
The former heavyweight champion’s successful 2023 campaign came to an end with Joshua’s victory over Wallin. He engaged in three fights, but more significantly, he defeated Wallin with a killing instinct that has mostly been absent since his shocking TKO loss to Andy Ruiz in June 2019.
Following the victory, Joshua, 34, declared, “I’m going to stay focused. I’m on a journey.” It was his debut fight, with Ben Davison as his trainer. “I don’t rejoice when we prevail in these battles. When I win the crowns, I rejoice.”
He will be one step closer to that objective if he defeats Ngannou, the former heavyweight champion of the UFC.
The 36-year-old Ngannou stunned heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury in October in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on his way to a split decision defeat.
Ngannou (0-1) will now get ready to take on another British boxing superstar to show that his performance wasn’t a fluke.
The two-time heavyweight champion Joshua lost two fights to Oleksandr Usyk after regaining his championships from Ruiz in Riyadh in December 2019.
On February 17 in Riyadh, Usyk and Fury will compete for the undisputed heavyweight title; there is a two-way rematch clause in the contract.
The victor of Joshua vs. Ngannou should be in a good position to face the winner of Fury vs. Usyk in the future.
Joshua, the third-ranked heavyweight on ESPN, has victories against Parker and Wladimir Klitschko. A press conference is scheduled for January 15 in London, according to Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter.
