Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn seems set for a busy year as he admitted in a recent interview that Matchroom-contractee Anthony Joshua might face former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. Having completed a successful year in 2023, Joshua’s next fight might well be the Cameroonian MMA fighter who is currently contracted to MMA promotion PFL.
Eddie Hearn revealed a total of three potential opponents that Anthony Joshua (27-3, 24 KO’s) could face next during an interview with IFL TV.
“We have three fights that we’re in discussions for,” said Hearn. “Before March, our aim is to fight the winner of Fury vs. Usyk. Obviously there’s [Filip] Hrgovic, there’s a Francis Ngannou fight out there which would be absolutely colossal. The [Zhilei] Zhang fight possibly as well with Queensbury.”
According to Hearn, Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KO’s), Francis Ngannou (0-1, 0 KO’s) and Zhilei Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KO’s) are all prospective opponents for Joshua next. Joshua holds a history with Zhang whom he beat in 2012 during his Olympic gold-winning run in 2012, thus leading way to an interesting money-spinning narrative both fighters can capitalize off.
A fight with Hrgovic would be more so in tune with Joshua’s ambitions to become a world champion as Hrgovic is currently the IBF heavyweight mandatory and he simultaneously holds the IBF interim heavyweight title to further be considered a legitimate contender to the IBF world title―which is currently held by Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KO’s).
The prospect of Josha facing Ngannou does not appear all too feasible on paper, however, regardless of how much interest both of them might generate. While Ngannou did impress during his professional boxing debut against Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KO’s), the MMA fighter is still contracted to the PFL and yes yet to fight under the organization. It is likely that these obligations will prevent him from fighting any boxer in the short-term.
There would also be question marks surrounding Joshua’s claims to fight Ngannou as this would not align with his own plans to become a three-time heavyweight world champion; a feat that has only ever been matched by Muhammad Ali.
Currently, a fight with Hrgovic appears to make more sense as this might give Joshua the opportunity to go down the IBF route and become a world champion again. This path might be made easier due to the IBF’s order for the winner between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KO’s) to face the IBF mandatory within 180 days after their victory.
As Usyk won against Dubois on August 26th, it would mean that Usyk will fail the IBF’s order as he is set to face Tyson Fury in an undisputed heavyweight match in February―180 days or 6 months after the IBF’s mandate. As a consequence, the IBF might force Usyk to relinquish the IBF title if he manages to win against Fury, while even Fury stands a chance of being stripped if he comes out on top due to the sanctioning body’s inconsistent appliance of their own rules.
