British boxing titan Anthony Joshua and former UFC Heavyweight Francis Ngannou have confirmed their huge fight in Riyadh this March. Now the speculation has began to stir regarding the finances involved, which are always a factor with sport in Saudi Arabia.
Francis Ngannou in Boxing
Since leaving the UFC in January last year Ngannou has been in the headlines around his venture into his boyhood dream of heavyweight boxing. In October last year he stepped into the ring with heavyweight king Tyson Fury and put on a performance that shocked the sporting world. Out in Riyadh he dropped Fury during a tough fight that went to a decision and the judges controversially scored the fight in favour of Fury. Since October the question on everyone’s mind has been what next and when. Fury has the Oleksandr Usyk matchup finalised for February 17th and now Ngannou has his opponent confirmed.
The Day of Reckoning boxing event produced some stellar performances. Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder were in the limelight and it was Joshua who stepped forward and shone brightest, earning this colossal fight with Francis Ngannou in March.
The Resurgence of Anthony Joshua
British boxing marvel AJ has had a turbulent road over the last 5 years ever since his first career defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr in June 2019. Fickle fans fell out of love with the aura of Joshua after that first defeat and mixed results since then have added to fans doubts. Coming into the fight with Otto Wallin the brit had two flat performances against lesser opponents that years prior he would have blown away.
This cast doubts on where AJ was mentally and how he would deal with a boxer the quality of Wallin who himself was coming off a career best win over Murat Gassiev. However, he was dominant from the very first minute right through to the end of the fight. It was an exceptional performance from Joshua that eradicated all doubt about his mentality or capability. A career best performance has everyone intrigued for the next time we see AJ in the ring, Eddie Hearn had a list of opponents for the new year. Francis Ngannou was by far the biggest fight other than Tyson Fury for AJ next.
How Many Millions?
The purse estimations for March are astounding, referring back to his October bout with Fury it was rumoured Ngannou earned $10 Million for that night which could potentially be doubled in March if rumours are to be believed. The sum of $20 Million is estimated for Ngannou and that is prior to pay per view sales which will be astronomical given the last Joshua performance.
As the opponent for Ngannou, Joshua will be asking for a large sum. Fury had a rumoured purse of $50 Million from October so one has to expect for AJ to be asking for an amount in a similar region. As they have done with many sports Saudi Arabia have entered the sport of boxing with a bottomless pocket of funds and will undoubtable be the home of most major events in the near future.
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