Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is expected to face MMA star-turned-boxer Francis Ngannou on Saturday’s pay-per-view in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
ANTHONY JOSHUA (3-27, 24 KO)
WITH. FRANCIS NGANNOU (0-1, 0 KO)
- Day: Saturday, March 8
- Time: 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT (main event will be shown later)
- Where: Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Television/Streaming: Pay per view
- Assignment: Heavy (unlimited)
- Under threat: No major titles
- Pound-for-pound: Do not have
- The odds: Joshua 4-1 favorite (average of multiple fights)
- Meaning (maximum five stars): ****
- Also on the card: Zhilei Zhang vs. Joseph Parker, heavyweight; Rey Vargas vs. Nick Ball, featherweight (for Vargas’ WBC title); Gavin Gwynne vs. Mark Chamberlain, lightweight; Justis Huni vs Kevin Lerena, a serious opponent
- Background: Can Ngannou do it again? The MMA star-turned-fighter shocked the boxing world by pushing reigning heavyweight champion Tyson Fury to his limits on October 28, when he lost a unanimous decision. And he will be directly involved in another fight with an established star, two-time champion Joshua. Ngannou probably benefited from Fury taking him lightly, which Joshua would not have done. However, Ngannou has proven that he is a capable boxer with outstanding physical strength. He is a real threat to Joshua even though he is a 4-1 underdog. Joshua is coming off his strongest performance in years, knocking out solid opponent Otto Wallin in five rounds on December 23 at Kingdom Arena. He has now won three times in a row since losing back-to-back matches against Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022. And he appears to be thriving under new coach Ben Davison. The winner of this fight will be in a strong position to face the winner of the May 18 Usyk-Fury fight, as well as the winner of Friday’s Zhilei Zhang-Joseph Parker fight. Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs) will go toe-to-toe with former title contender Joe Joyce from last year. Parker (34-3, 23 KOs) delivered a career-changing unanimous decision victory over former compatriot Deontay Wilder on the Joshua-Wallin card. The Kiwi has won four consecutive fights since being stopped by Joyce in 11 rounds in 2022.
