Boxing glory is up for grabs this Friday as British-Nigerian boxing star Anthony Joshua and Cameroonian professional mixed martial arts fighter Francis Ngannou head for a showdown in a high-profile fight dubbed ‘Knockout Chaos’ in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Both fighters will lock horns in a 10-round match at the Kingdom Arena in the capital Riyadh.
Joshua is hoping to become a three-time world champion, but he must first get past 34-year-old Ngannou.
If he wins Ngannou, then he gets closer to fighting for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title against Croatia's number-one ranked IBF fighter Filip Hrgovic.
However, Ngannou is not a fighter to be easily tossed aside, especially when analysing his performance in the clash against Tyson Fury in October 2023. Ngannou almost delivered one of boxing's biggest upsets.
Even though Fury won the clash on points, the Cameroonian knocked Fury to the canvas in round three with a left hook, with Fury admitting the knockout was unexpected.
A shock win over Joshua would strengthen Ngannou's legitimacy as a heavyweight contender.
This clash between Joshua and Ngannou is also building up to deliver expected outcomes as well.
The clash will be a standard professional boxing bout. The fight is scheduled for 10 three-minute rounds. Each fighter can win via decision, knockout, or TKO (technical knockout, e.g., the referee stops the bout, a towel is thrown in, or an injury halts the fight).
Neither fighter holds a title, so there won’t be a sanctioned championship title that would be won or retained at the end of the fight.
Joshua already lost his WBA, WBO, and IBF belts after losing twice to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022.
There will, however, be a jaw-dropping financial reward, with Joshua reportedly going to make $50 million and Ngannou's $20 million, not factoring in pay-per-view points, after the match.
➤Click here to follow our WhatsApp channel for more stories.
