The boxing world will witness one of the biggest clashes of the year in a few days as Anthony Joshua takes on Francis Ngannou. ‘The Predator’ in just his second professional boxing fight is taking on not only a world champion, but also one of the biggest names in the sport. Joshua, on the other hand, is taking on a fighter who, in the eyes of many pundits as well as fans, dropped Tyson Fury and also won the fight on the scorecards. The fight between the two giants takes place in Saudi Arabia, albeit on a Friday night. Why is that the case?
The fight between Joshua and Ngannou will take place on a Friday night, as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did not want it to clash with F1. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix takes place on March 9, 2024 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The city of Jeddah hosted an F1 race for the first time in 2021, a race won by Lewis Hamilton. Since then, the circuit has hosted a race in 2022 as well as 2023. The F1 season started off last weekend with the first race held in Bahrain won by Max Verstappen. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will be the second race of the season.
It is interesting to note that F1 races have undergone a change in fixture, as it usually follow a different schedule. Qualifying normally takes place on a Saturday and the race is held on Sundays. However, given that the holy month of Ramadan starts on March 10, the race will take place on a Saturday instead of a Sunday at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The match between Ngannou and Joshua will be streamed on ‘DAZN’. The timings of the ring walks for Joshua vs. Ngannou are set for 10:50 p.m. UK / 5:50 p.m. ET, but they could alter depending on how long the undercard bouts run. The undercard starts at 4 p.m. UK / 11 a.m. ET. However, both the fighters are expected to bag a whopping sum of money from the bout.
How much will Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou earn from this fight?
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has rapidly increased its involvement in the sport of boxing. Ngannou vs Joshua is just the latest big fight to be hosted by the Kingdom. Needless to say, with the country involved, both Ngannou and Joshua will walk away with massive paydays.
According to reports, Ngannou is set to make a whopping $20 million for this fight. However, this is before he gets a cut of PPV revenues. Joshua, on the other hand, is set to make a whopping $50 million. However, as is the case with Ngannou, this is before he gets a cut of PPV revenues.
