The winner of Anthony Joshua-Francis Ngannou is being set up to face the winner of Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk, according to the Chairman of General Authority for Entertainment for Saudi Arabia, Turki Al-Sheikh.
At the launch press conference for the upcoming ten-round heavyweight contest between Joshua and Ngannou set for March 8, he announced the plans.
“You understand now why it’s Joshua against Ngannou? You will se the result of this match, it will connect with the result of the 17th of February. This is our idea.”
Despite a widely reported rematch clause between Fury and Usyk, Frank Warren also echoed the idea of winner facing winner.
Turki Al-Sheikh then went on to share his excitement on the ‘AJ’-Ngannou fight, joking with the MMA man that he would like to see him stopped before he takes over boxing entirely.
“All the people said to me ‘don’t talk like this.’ But Ngannou I think you will understand me. I look to you as a brother, but I want someone to stop you. I think it will be a tough match. You seen the last version of Joshua. We got him back. I think it will be something huge. The result of this match will go in 2024 we will try with Eddie and Frank to deliver to the market a very big fight. This is the important thing.”
Alalshikh then had an image of a new ‘undisputed’ title belt projected on the screen and said that it was waiting for the winner of this fight, presumably by facing the then-four belt champion crowned on Feb 17.
Finally, he teased a stable versus stable card involving Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren, who are working together for the second time.
“I want to talk about two cards I want to do. The first card is Frank against Eddie – each one of them will choose five fighters and do a night against each other. The [next] thing, I want to see Artur [Beterbiev] and Bivol in June. I will speak to Top Rank about it. All the fans want to see it. I hope to have big fights.”