A former heavyweight champion who is trying to make his way towards a new World Cup chance and a mixed martial arts fighter who will return to boxing after a satisfactory first experience will animate the main fight of an elite evening in Saudi Arabia, the new Mecca of sport:
The British Anthony Joshua will be tested this Friday against the Cameroonian Francis Ngannou
, who a little more than four months ago gave another Englishman, Tyson Fury, a big scare.
The main portion of the card will begin at 3 p.m. and the background fight will be around 6 p.m. (it can only be seen through the DAZN platform).
Although this weekend the main focus of attraction in Saudi Arabia is in Jeddah, on the shores of the Red Sea,
where the second round of the Formula 1 season takes place
, the capital of the kingdom will also offer massive attractions as part of the fourth edition of the
Riyadh Season
, a cluster of cultural, sporting and gastronomic events aimed at washing the international image of the monarchy.
The Egyptian Cup final between Al-Ahly and Zamalek will be played there on Friday at the Al-Awwal Park stadium and with tickets sold out.
At the same time and just a few meters away,
the Kingdom Arena, with capacity for 30,000 spectators
, will host some of today's most prominent heavyweights.
Some will climb into the ring, others will attract attention from the first row at ring side.
In a country where he has already fought three times, Joshua will take on a
trap challenge
.
For the former monarch of the World Boxing Association, the International Boxing Federation and the World Boxing Organization,
a victory is imperative to preserve a privileged position
in the long list of candidates for a giant chance, although everyone foresees a long wait: On May 18, if there is no new reason for postponement,
Tyson Fury and the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk
will meet, also in Riyadh, to consecrate the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the era of the four governing bodies of world boxing.
That fight contemplates a rematch, whatever the result, so the rest of the heavyweight elite calculates that they will not be able to face the winner until 2025.
There were many who presumed Joshua's career was over after his second loss to Usyk in August 2022 in Jeddah.
However, the boxer born 34 years ago in Watford, who has a professional record of 27 wins (24 before the limit) and 3 setbacks, has since chained three victories.
The last was on December 23,
when he knocked out Swede Otto Wallin
in Riyadh.
Anthony Joshua pursues a new chance to fight for a world title.
Photo: Instagram @anthonyjoshua.
A positive result was expected to pave the way for a fight against another former champion,
the American Deontay Wilder
, who on that same evening would face (and was expected to beat)
the New Zealander Joseph Parker
.
But Wilder lost and left a very poor image, which buried that chance.
Then it was necessary to look for an alternative for Joshua and the name of Ngannou came out of the bag, an adversary who can function as a springboard or a tombstone for the Briton's career.
The Cameroonian, born on September 5, 1986 in Batié, 210 kilometers northwest of Yaoundé, is a newcomer to boxing.
In Paris, where he arrived at the age of 22
after crossing the Sahara on foot and crossing the Strait of Gibraltar on a precarious raft
, he began practicing mixed martial arts and became a professional in 2013. Two years later he traveled to the United States to sign a contract with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the main company on the planet dedicated to that discipline.
Ngannou won 17 of his 20 fights in the UFC and was heavyweight champion
, but at the beginning of 2023 he broke his ties with the company managed by Dana White and in May he signed with the Professional Fighters League (PFL), another firm dedicated to mixed martial arts. , a contract that not only made him a fighter for the company, but also a member of its Athlete Advisory Board and president and shareholder of its African branch.
Against Anthony Joshua, Cameroonian Francis Ngannou will fight in his second fight as a professional boxer.
Photo: Instagram @francisngannou.
In his contract with PFL, the African reserved the right to try his luck in the sport he had fantasized about since he was a teenager.
“For more than a decade,
he only dreamed of boxing
.
The opportunity arose (in the UFC) to shine, to be world champion, but the possibility of boxing was always open.
It was something that I needed, that I had to make come true to feel complete
,” he explained this week.
His entry into boxing was through the giant door.
Last October 28, he faced Tyson Fury in Riyadh
and was close to achieving a resounding defeat: he ended up losing on points in a disputed split decision after having knocked down the World Boxing Council champion in the third round, who, nobility obliges , had reached the commitment in suboptimal physical conditions.
That single performance earned him the Mexico-based organization placing him in 10th place in its heavyweight ranking (which qualifies him to fight for the crown) and gave him enough credit to now face Joshua.
In his first fight as a professional boxer Francis Ngannou knocked down the British Tyson Fury.
Photo: Fayez Nureldine / AFP.
“My rival knows me, he knows what he is going to encounter. "I've already lost the element of surprise
," acknowledged Ngannou, who on Thursday registered 123,650 kilos at the official weigh-in.
“Francis is an exceptional fighter, big, with a strong punch and a better boxer than we all had believed he could be
,” praised the Englishman, who weighed 114,500 kilos on the scale.
Joshua is a big favorite to win
in a fight that will have Tyson Fury as a privileged spectator, who traveled to Riyadh with the excuse of witnessing the fight that Roman, one of his younger brothers (in his fourth outing) will star on the same evening. professional, will face the Czech Martin Svarc).
Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou, along with Cristiano Ronaldo, Sheikh Turki Alalshikh and Tyson Fury in Riyadh.
Photo: Instagram @turkialalshik.
However, the presence of the
Gypsy King
was not limited to a discreet and silent accompaniment of his brother.
Faithful to his style, the champion put on his usual dialectical show since his arrival on Saudi soil, which always combines numerous self-praise and constant insults
to
all his potential adversaries.
Among so much verbal shrapnel,
he revealed that Sheikh Turki Alalshikh
, president of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia and responsible for having turned his country into a new pole of boxing, had announced to him that the winner of this Friday's main event would face to the winner of his two fights with
Oleksandr Usyk.
That is, clearly, Joshua's great objective.
Instead, Ngannou has other short-term plans: Professional Fighters League has already announced that he will debut in its structure in the coming months against
Brazilian Renan Ferreira
.
In any case, no one can rule out another excursion to the ensogados if he emerges well from his lawsuit against the Englishman.
Just in case, Fury already left him a warning about a possible rematch:
“I'm going to clean the ring with your ass again.”
𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 👀 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐅𝐅 @anthonyjoshua 🆚 @francis_ngannou #JoshuaNgannou weigh-in 👉 https://t.co/KqxpzjZIBj #KnockoutChaos |
#RiyadhSeason pic.twitter.com/ngTumjQpY0
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) March 7, 2024
Although the clash between Joshua and Ngannou is the main attraction of the boxing day in Riyadh, there will be three other fights of the highest level and competitiveness in an evening that will include 10 fights.
In the semi-distance, two other heavyweights who are also seeking a golden ticket will face each other:
the Chinese Zhilei Zhang
will expose his interim WBO title against the former world champion
Joseph Parker.
In another title fight, two undefeated men,
the Uzbek Israil Madrimov and the Russian Magomed Kurbanov
, will bid for the WBA super welterweight title, which is vacant because the organization declared
the American Jermell Charlo
as champion in recess , who does not put into play his belt for almost two years.
In addition, the Mexican Rey Vargas, featherweight monarch of the WBC, will be challenged by the number one in the ranking, the unbeaten Englishman Nick Ball.