Francis Ngannou will now oppose the other big British heavyweight boxing star in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Combat sports reporter Ariel Helwani reported Friday that Turki Alalshhikh and his “own sources” confirmed to him that a deal has been finalized for former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua to face Ngannou on a date to be determined at Kingdom Arena. Helwani also stated in a video posted to social media that their 10-round fight will be officially announced at a press conference sometime this month.
Alalshhikh is chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, which has financially backed several high-profile pay-per-view boxing events in recent months.
Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s longtime promoter, confirmed later Friday that the Joshua-Ngannou deal has been completed. Hearn also noted that a press conference has been scheduled for January 15 in London.
Cameroon’s Ngannou, a former UFC champion, shocked the boxing world when he gave unbeaten WBC champ Tyson Fury a difficult fight October 28 at Kingdom Arena. Ngannou floored Fury, who went off as a 20-1 favorite, with a left hook in the third round, but Fury reached his feet, recovered and edged Ngannou by split decision.
Judges Alan Krebs (95-94) and Juan Carlos Pelayo (96-93) scored their fight for Fury, but judge Ed Garner gave Ngannou credit for a 95-94 win. Ngannou, 37, made his professional boxing debut when he faced Fury in a 10-round, non-title fight.
His narrow win over Ngannou enabled Fury to move forward with a full title unification fight against Oleksandr Usyk. England’s Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) and Ukraine’s Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) will fight for Usyk’s IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO belts and Fury’s WBC championship February 17 at Kingdom Arena.
Joshua, meanwhile, was supposed to finally fight Deontay Wilder in a long-awaited showdown between former heavyweight champions March 9 at Kingdom Arena.
Former WBO champ Joseph Parker upset Wilder, however, in their 12-round co-feature on the Joshua-Otto Wallin undercard December 23 at Kingdom Arena. New Zealand’s Parker (34-3, 23 KOs) beat Alabama’s Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs), who was a 7-1 favorite, by unanimous decision.
England’s Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) stopped Sweden’s Wallin (26-2, 14 KOs, 1 NC), who didn’t answer the bell for the sixth round of the main event that night.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.