Anthony Joshua will face Francis Ngannou in a ten round crossover boxing match later this year in Saudi Arabia. It’s unknown if the Joshua-Ngannou fight will take place on March 9th, which was the original date that AJ was supposed to fight Deontay Wilder if he hadn’t beaten last December.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed that the Anthony Joshua vs. Ngannou fight is a done deal, and there’s a press conference scheduled for January 15th to announce the contest.
Should Joshua-Ngannou be sanctioned?
There’s no word yet if this will be an exhibition or if it’ll be sanctioned. Given that Ngannou has only had one fight in the pro ranks, it doesn’t make sense for the fight to be sanctioned with him going up against a two-time heavyweight champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist.
If this is an exhibition, it’s fine, but other than that, it’s troubling for this kind of match-up to count on the record books.
Assuming this isn’t an exhibition, that could mean that if Joshua gets beaten, he’ll be out of the running to face the winner of the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk fight later this year. It would look silly for Joshua to still face the winner of that fight with him coming off a loss to Ngannou.
That’s why it would be better for Joshua & Hearn to make the Ngannou fight an exhibition, so if Joshua loses, he can just say it was a ‘For fun fight’ and that wasn’t really going all out. Aside from that, it would look pathetic for Joshua to go from a loss to Ngannou to challenging the winner of the Fury-Usyk fight.
Devaluing boxing?
Hearn had recently said earlier this week that the 37-year-old recently beaten Nganou (0-1) was one of the three fighters that the Saudis were considering as a replacement for Deontay Wilder, who was beaten by Joseph Parker last December on the Day of Reckoning card in Riyadh.
It was pretty obvious that Ngannou would be the one to get the fight against AJ, as he was the weakest of the three on paper, as the other two were Zhilei Zhang and Filip Hrgovic, and those were guys that would have a good chance of beating the 34-year-old Joshua and that would wreck the hopes of Joshua fighting Tyson Fury.
As such, instead of Joshua taking on a real boxer with a chance of beating him, he’s facing an MMA guy coming off a loss to Fury. It’s kind of off-putting, isn’t it?
The downside of Ngannou being used as Joshua’s next opponent are as follows:
- Coming off a loss: Ngannou lost to Tyson Fury last October
- Limited boxing skills
- Not well known: MMA fans know Ngannou, but boxing fans who don’t follow that sport have no clue who he is. Casual fans don’t know who Ngannou is, so they won’t be interested.
- Heavily accented English
- Unfair to boxers: Having a non-boxer leapfrogging over fighters looks bad
- Makes a mockery of the sport: Other sports like the NFL, NBA, or NHL don’t allow non-league teams to enter league play just to make money. It would make a joke out of those leagues, but it’s allowed in boxing with ruthless promoters doing anything for a buck.
Joshua is coming off a win over tune-up level opponent Otto Wallin on December 23rd. That was the third consecutive tune-up fight for Joshua after losing to Oleksandr Usyk in 2022.
Tonight we confirm it’s a Done Deal! @anthonyjoshua v @francis_ngannou collide on a huge night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – press conference Jan 15 in London with full details dropping soon!#JoshuaNgannou @Turki_alalshikh @MatchroomBoxing @Queensberry #RiyadhSeason 🇸🇦
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) January 5, 2024
“I have confirmed with Turki Alalshikh that it is going down. It’s a gone deal,” said Ariel Helwani on social media about the Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou fight.
“Francis Ngannou is returning to Saudi Arabia just a few months removed from his incredible performance against Tyson Fury [last October in Riyadh. He gets the big Tyson Fury fight and shocks everyone [in losing the fight].
“He’s returning to action in a boxing match later on this year against the former [two-time] heavyweight champion, the man who had an incredible 2023 [beating fringe contenders Jermaine Franklin, 39-year-old journeyman Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin], the man who just won the ‘Day of Reckoning’ on December 23rd, the one and only AJ, Anthony Joshua.
“It’s a done deal on both ends. Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou, a ten round fight, later on this year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“I’ve confirmed this with Mr. Turki Alalshikh and my own sources. There is going to be a press conference later on this month in London to officially announce the date, but it is going down. It is done, Francis against AJ.
“The Francis’ boxing journey continues, and now he goes up against the former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, who just beat Otto Wallin. It’s a tremendous stuff, more to come,” said Ariel.