Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou undercard: Every fighter competing on March 8
The Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou undercard has finally been revealed.
Earlier this month, reports about a heavyweight clash between 'AJ' and 'The Predator' emerged. Quickly, Ngannou and Eddie Hearn confirmed plans for the bout to go down on March 8. The former UFC heavyweight champion replaced Deontay Wilder, who was originally expected to face Joshua.
In the last week or so, a lot of details have emerged about the contest. Today, the two heavyweights held their first press conference. Multiple undercard bouts were confirmed for March 8. The co-main event will feature the return of Zhilei Zhang.
'Big Bang' was linked to a potential clash with Wilder on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou. However, the interim WBO heavyweight champion will instead face Joseph Parker. The Australian famously handed 'The Bronze Bomber' a rare defeat last month.
Along with that is a WBC featherweight championship clash between Nick Ball and Rey Vargas. Light-heavyweight prospect Mark Chamberlain will also be returning opposite Gavin Gwynne. In terms of finalized matchups, that's it for now.
However, there are several prospects who are awaiting opponents for March. Justis Huni, Roman Fury, Jack McGann, and Ziyad Almaayouf have all been linked to the event as of now.
Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou first face-off
At today's press conference, Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou faced off for the first time.
While the undercard features several big names and matchups, it's clear what most fans will be buying the pay-per-view for. That's obviously the 12-round main event between 'AJ' and 'The Predator'.
At today's presser, the bout finally had some stakes revealed as well. Turki Alalshikh, the main architect behind the rise in Saudi Arabia's boxing success, revealed that the winner of Joshua vs. Ngannou would face the winner of Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk.
With that in mind, there's now a lot riding on March's heavyweight contest. However, it was hard to tell in the first face-off.
As Joshua and Ngannou faced off, they were stoic as usual in advance of their March 8 showdown. While 'The Predator' was towered over by Tyson Fury in his boxing debut, he will arguably be the bigger man for his second trip to the boxing ring.