Eddie Hearn Shares Thoughts On Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou

Eddie Hearn knows Anthony Joshua can’t underestimate Francis Ngannou whatsoever.

Joshua and Ngannou are set to box on March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a massive fight for both of them. The winner could face the winner of Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight title.

Ngannou is coming off a split decision loss to Fury in a fight he dropped the Brit in. With that, Hearn says Joshua can’t underestimate him in the slightest, but he does have confidence his fighter will get his hand raised.

“You can’t say that a guy that dropped Fury—and in many eyes’ beat him—is not credible as an opponent,”  Hearn told Boxing Social. “I said to Lennox that one of the big reasons we are taking that fight is because we have been told by His Excellency that the winner of that fight fights the winner of Fury-Usyk. So we get a straight shot at undisputed. So if Fury beats Usyk, which I hope he does, and we beat Ngannou, you’ve got self-made the biggest fight arguably in the history of the sport.

“You know that if Fury beats Usyk and AJ beats Ngannou, the whole world is going to go ‘Oh my God, it’s AJ-Fury for undisputed.’ So yes there are rematch clauses and contracts have got to be respected but also you know the vision of His Excellency. He’s going to want to deliver for fans worldwide the biggest fight in our generation and it will be right on a plate in front of him. But Fury has got to beat Usyk first and AJ has got to beat Ngannou. And as we saw with Wilder against Parker, things can happen,” Hearn continued.

Anthony Joshua is the betting favorite and has said he will KO Francis Ngannou to make a statement. If he does that, it will be hard to deny the Brit a shot at heavyweight gold.

Do you think Anthony Joshua will beat Francis Ngannou?