Eddie Hearn, the promoter for Anthony Joshua, claims to have spoken with Francis Ngannou about the possibility of facing the British-Nigerian.
After leaving the UFC after failing to secure a contract extension, Ngannou is currently the most sought-after prospect on the market. Joshua's promoter wasted no time in getting in touch with the heavyweight star, who was forced to relinquish his belt.
The head of Matchroom Boxing is also hopeful that Joshua would defeat Tyson Fury to the superfight with Ngannou.
“We’ll see what happens. For me, we would love to be involved with his career,” Hearn said on The MMA Hour.
“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. We’ll see how it goes.”
Hearn would rather Ngannou jumped straight into a blockbuster fight with Joshua as opposed to building his way up.
“I mean, I think he should fight Anthony Joshua. I don’t see — this is another conversation I had with Nate Diaz’s guys.
“These 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,” Hearn said on The MMA Hour.
“What happens when two titans from the world of fight sports collide? The UFC heavyweight world champion Francis Ngannou and the two-time world heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua.
“The complete unknown. The unknown of how good is Francis Ngannou? We know he punches extremely hard, if he lands one on Anthony Joshua, is it the greatest upset of all time? Or will AJ completely steamroll him and you’ll see Francis Ngannou get knocked out? That’s the attraction of that fight, the unknown.
“So for me, if I’m representing Francis Ngannou, I want to make sure that this next move, I maximise every dollar that’s out there.
“He’s done the hard work, he’s done the years of hustle. He’s done the work to get himself in a position that he can move forward with what he wants to do,” Hearn said.
