Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is set to fight Francis Ngannou in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, later this year.
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, announced this in a tweet on Friday, adding that details of the fight would be made public at a press conference in London on January 15.
“Tonight we confirm it’s a Done Deal! @anthonyjoshua v @francis_ngannou collide on a huge night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,” Hearn said, “press conference January 15 in London with full details dropping soon!”
The duo will trade punches in a 10-round bout sometime in March according to reports but a specific date has yet to be fixed.
In his last fight, Joshua took just five rounds to batter and defeat Sweden’s Otto Wallin at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last December.
It was his third consecutive victory after he lost two consecutive fights to Ukraine boxer Oleksandr Usyk, losing his belts.
Coming from morale-boosting victories last year, Joshua will be looking forward to taking on Mr Ngannou as he gradually fights his way back to winning a belt.
Mr Ngannou is a mixed martial artist whose professional boxing debut last year in a 10-round bout against Tyson Fury.
A fight against Joshua is his second as a boxer, a test of his impressive performance in his first outing in which he dropped Fury to the canvas with a fierce left hook in the third round, showing though he is new in the game, he is no work over for boxers.
