Former UFC champion Francis Ngannou will face Anthony Joshua

Professional boxing unexpectedly received another very serious and sought-after player. It turned out to be heavyweight Francis Ngannou, who escaped from the UFC, the main promotion in mixed martial arts (MMA). The Cameroonian, who last fall almost defeated World Boxing Council (WBC) champion Tyson Fury in his first ever boxing match, will meet another British superstar, Anthony Joshua, in March, and Ngannou’s fee for the performance will be a colossal sum by MMA standards – about $20 million

Among the main sports news in the first days after the New Year was the news about the conclusion of a contract for the fight of two heavyweights – Francis Ngannou and Anthony Joshua. It will take place on March 8 in Saudi Arabia.

Formally, its central character is, of course, Joshua. Until recently, it was he who was considered the unofficial king of the heavyweight category. However, the Briton lost this title, along with the championship belts of the International Boxing Federation (IBF), the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO), twice in a row, in 2021 And 2022, losing to the Ukrainian Alexander Usik. Joshua is currently trying to achieve contender status. And in this sense, he was greatly helped by the convincing victory he won in December over the strong Swede Otto Wallin.

But Anthony Joshua’s opponent is actually an even more remarkable character. Essentially, we are talking about a new significant player in the boxing market, although this new player is already 37 years old.

Francis Ngannou shocked mixed martial arts fans early last year when, as UFC heavyweight champion, he terminated his relationship with the promotion by refusing to renew his contract.

Ngannou entered into an agreement with the PFL structure, which is trying to compete with the flagship MMA, but made an unexpected career twist. Without any special boxing training, he agreed to meet with the outstanding British heavyweight Tyson Fury, holder of the World Boxing Council title. The fight, which took place in October, was perceived as a “warm-up” for Fury before the future match for the absolute championship title against Usik, but it almost turned into a disaster for him. In the third round, Ngannou knocked down his opponent, and lost on points by split decision, that is, one judge out of three gave the win to him.

After this fight, the WBC, contrary to its own principles, immediately included Francis Ngannou in the top ten of its ranking, which guaranteed him good fights in terms of demand if he wanted to stay in boxing. But circumstances helped the Cameroonian become a participant in the second not just good, but truly top fight.

Around the same time, in March, Anthony Joshua was supposed to face another opponent, former WBC champion Deontay Wilder, playing with him for the right to a match against the winner of the Fury-Usyk fight. The contract with the American is already was agreed, however, the confrontation broke down. Wilder fought on the same show in Saudi Arabia in which Joshua fought Wallin against New Zealander Joseph Parker. Parker was not rated too highly, but confidently won the points, effectively eliminating Wilder from the championship race. He was replaced by Francis Ngannou, clearly paying attention to the public interest in his boxing debut.

The Cameroonian himself now certainly does not regret that he decided to make a demarche and escape from the UFC. It is no secret that he said goodbye to this promotion for reasons primarily of a financial nature. Ngannou thought the contract he was offered for three fights worth $8 million was modest, although by mixed martial arts standards it seemed very expensive.

But already for the fight with Tyson Fury, Francis Ngannou received more than this amount – $10 million, according to a number of sources. And Sports Business Journal reported that in a fight against Joshua, Ngannou’s fee will at least double, to $20 million. During his entire long career in the MMA elite, the Cameroonian has not earned even a fifth of this amount.

Alexey Dospehov