MMA veteran Francis Ngannou is not ready to give up on a boxing match with former WBC world champion Deontay Wilder.
Last October in Saudi Arabia, Ngannou made his professional boxing debut in a crossover bout with current WBC champion Tyson Fury.
Ngannou impressed experts with his competitive performance against the man who many view as the top heavyweight in the world.
Fury was dropped in the third round and struggled with Ngannou’s style. After ten rounds of action, Fury won a close split decision.
The victory earned Ngannou a major opportunity on March 8, when he faces former two-time world champion Anthony Joshua.
However, Ngannou has not forgotten about Wilder.
Last month, Wilder suffered the third defeat of his career when he dropped a twelve round unanimous decision to Joseph Parker.
Prior to that loss, there was a lot of interest from Wilder in facing Ngannou – and the ‘Bronze Bomber’ even entertained the possibility of staging their fight under a mixed-rules format.
Ngannou is crossing his fingers that Wilder recovers and gets his career back on track – so the two punchers can come back together to negotiate a fight. Wilder intends to fight again, but his future plans are unknown.
Win or lose in his upcoming assignment, Ngannou wants to get his opportunity to trade punches in the ring with Wilder.
“I’m here for the boxing career and there I have a lot of challenges, a lot of names. For example, the top three guys that I’ve always had are Fury, Joshua and Wilder,” Ngannou told Sky Sports’ MMA Club. “Wilder better get it together because I’m not done, I want that name on my record.
“Two months ago, we were talking about fighting Deontay Wilder in the PFL [Professional Fighters League]. The landscape can change quick. Everything is possible.”