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His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has revealed what’s at stake between Francis Ngannou and Anthony Joshua.
In Nov. 2023, Ngannou shocked the world by nearly defeating Tyson Fury in a boxing. As a result, the former UFC heavyweight champion has earned another massive payday by facing Joshua in Saudi Arabia on March 8.
Ngannou is motivated to prove that his performance against Fury wasn’t a fluke. With that said, there are added stakes for his upcoming boxing match, as a win against Joshua would put ‘The Predator’ in the conversation for an undisputed heavyweight title shot.
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During an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Alalshikh had this to say when asked about what’s on the line between Ngannou and Joshua:
“If [Francis] Ngannou wins, you know he will have a rematch against the champion [Tyson Fury]. If [Anthony] Joshua wins, in the way of the winner of Tyson and [Oleksandr] Usyk, it will be long time because they will have rematch. We are thinking and discussing with Joshua camp and Hrgovic camp to maybe have a fight between them.”
Watch Turki Alalshikh discuss the stakes of Joshua vs. Ngannou below:
Turki Alalshikh discusses Filip Hrgovic’s next fight before potential matchup against Anthony Joshua
Tyson Fury was scheduled to fight Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight boxing throne on Feb. 17. Earlier this week, Fury suffered a severe cut while sparring, leading to the long-awaited championship bout being postponed until May 18.
Once Fury announced he pulled out, rumors began spreading about undefeated heavyweight Filip Hrgovic potentially stepping in to fight Usyk. During the previously mentioned interview with Ariel Helwani, Turki Alalshikh had this to say about what’s next for Hrgovic:
“What about [Filip] Hrgovic? I give him options to play in the undercard of 8th of March. Now I call him for six names, choose one of them, if they both accept, we want them in the 8th of March. Hrgovic [vs. Daniel] Dubois, Hrgovic [vs. Martin] Bakole, Hrgovic [vs. Frank] Sanchez, Hrgovic [vs. Jarrell] Miller, Hrgovic [vs. Agit] Kabayel, Hrgovic [vs.] Jared Anderson.”
Hrgovic holds a professional boxing record of 17-0, with 14 wins by KO/TKO. The Croatian heavyweight last fought in Dec. 2023, defeating Mark De Mori by first-round TKO at the Day of Reckoning event, headlined by Anthony Joshua vs. Otto Wallin.
Watch His Excellency discuss what's next for Hrgovic below:
