Francis Ngannou should fight Anthony Joshua in boxing debut, says Eddie Hearn amid talks with ex-UFC star
Eddie Hearn has revealed that he has spoken to Francis Ngannou since the heavyweight exited the UFC last month, while teasing a super-fight between the mixed martial arts star and Anthony Joshua.
Ngannou’s destructive knockout power made him one of the biggest names in the UFC over the last five years, but the MMA promotion would not meet Cameroonian’s contract demands, leading him to relinquish the heavyweight title and leave the company in January.
Ngannou, 36, has long teased a move into professional boxing, and Hearn said on The MMA Hour on Wednesday (1 February) that he would love to facilitate such a venture.
Hearn, opening up on his discussions with Ngannou, said: “He didn’t go too deeply into stuff, but I respect him greatly for the way he’s handled his career to a point where now he’s in a fantastic position.
“He has a new ocean to navigate now, which is a lot more rocky than the world of MMA and UFC, in that he’s in the Wild West of boxing. We’ll see what happens.
“For me, we would love to be involved with his career. The Anthony Joshua fight is probably among the biggest fights that can be made in any sport. Obviously the Tyson Fury fight is there for him as well.
“I was pretty captivated by him. I’m not a massive MMA fan, but I still respect what he’s achieved there. But I just found him to be an outstanding gentleman.”
Ngannou went 12-2 during a seven-year stint in the UFC, winning 10 of those fights by knockout. Each of those stoppages came in the first or second round, with four having been achieved in the very first minute.
Elaborating on the prospect of a clash between “The Predator” and Joshua, whose boxing return is set to take place in the next few months, Hearn added: “I mean, I think he should fight Joshua.
“These [MMA] guys have a mountain to climb in terms of the challenge of fighting an elite boxer, but to go through the process of having two or three fights... One fight you might look bad, because you’re learning, so the value really is the unknown.
“What happens when two titans from the world of fight sports collide? The UFC heavyweight world champion Ngannou and the two-time world heavyweight boxing champion Joshua, the complete unknown. [It’s] the unknown of: How good is Ngannou?
“We know he punches extremely hard; if he lands one on Joshua, is it the greatest upset of all time? Or will AJ completely steamroll him and you’ll see Ngannou get knocked out? That’s the attraction of that fight, the unknown.
“So, for me, if I’m representing Ngannou, I want to make sure that [in] this next move I maximize every dollar that’s out there.”
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