Recently, Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou were joined by their promoter in London for the official promotional press conference to kick off their massive upcoming event. After Ngannou sent shockwaves with his performance against Tyson Fury in Riyadh, he is now set to face Joshua. However, while this is a mega-fight, they were not originally the planned opponents, as recently revealed by AJ in a MMAFighting interview. He also talked about the reasons why he chose Ngannou over Deontay Wilder, with whom he had already signed a contract to fight.
During the conversation, Ariel Helwani asked Joshua if he had already considered fighting Ngannou when Wilder lost to Joseph Parker on December 23rd, or if he had to be convinced to take this route. In response, Joshua stated he had already signed the contract to fight Wilder, but when his team presented the offer for the Ngannou fight, he was ready to roll. He stated,
“So I thought it might be Wilder still because the contracts were signed and it’s still a big fight, still an amazing fight. It’s a crossover between the UK and USA- good stuff promotional wise still a good fight. So now I kind of let that one slide for a bit. It was like the Hrgovic and the Ruiz situation and then Francis there. My team were like this is a good opportunity, on this day in Saudi Arabia against this opponent, what you saying I said ‘let’s roll’.”
It was reported that Joshua and Wilder had signed a two-fight deal before the “Day of Reckoning” event, with plans to fight in March. However, Wilder’s recent loss and lackluster performance, coupled with his later revelation about a psychedelic adventure, diminished the hype for the fight.
Consequently, Joshua’s team lost interest in facing Wilder, and when offered the opportunity to fight the former UFC champion, who comes with solid performance and hype, the British boxer didn’t waste time agreeing to fight. Additionally, even promoter Eddie Hearn admitted Joshua fighting “Bronze Bomber” was a miss match.
Eddie Hearn: Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder Seen as a Boxing Mismatch
In a recent interview with IFL TV, Eddie Hearn expressed his doubts about the likelihood of this fight happening. He referred to Wilder as a ‘Busted Flush,’ highlighting that, aside from his power, he doesn’t see Wilder at the same boxing level as Joshua. Hearn stated that, in his view, the potential match would be a mismatch. He stated,
“Obviously, negotiations have taken place up till that point to agree the deal. But the numbers don’t work now because Wilder is a busted flush at the moment. I know Deontay always has the punch and all, but it’s a miss match against AJ in my opinion.”
Francis Ngannou vs. Anthony Joshua is indeed one of the biggest fights of this year, and now everyone is excited to see what the PFL fighter has to offer. If he manages to beat Joshua, he will become one of the biggest stars in combat sports with no near equal in the PFL. Meanwhile, Joshua stands to earn both $50M and a reputation from this fight.
