Eddie Hearn confirms talks underway with Francis Ngannou to make Anthony Joshua clash: “Is just probably one of the biggest fights that could be made”

Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn has confirmed that he’s in discussions with Francis Ngannou.

‘The Predator’ exited the UFC last month after fighting out his deal with the promotion. As a result, he was stripped of his heavyweight gold and looked for greener pastures. For their part, the UFC quickly booked Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane for the vacant title in March.

Nonetheless, the former heavyweight titleholder made it clear that he’s looking to compete soon. Ngannou recently revealed that he’s looking to make his professional boxing debut in July, and he’s already in talks with several MMA promotions.

We now know that one of the candidates in the Francis Ngannou sweepstakes is Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing. During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, the boxing promoter stated that he’s talked with the former UFC champion.

While nothing is set in stone, Hearn noted that it was a good conversation. He also stated that the matchup he has in mind for Ngannou is with Anthony Joshua. ‘AJ’ has been out of action since his split-decision loss to Oleksandr Usyk last August.

Image via @eddiehearn on Instagram (photographer not listed)

“Yes [I’ve talked to Francis Ngannou], I think he’s an outstanding man. I always talk too much, and I don’t want to talk too much about what was said,” Eddie Hearn stated on The MMA Hour. “[The meeting was] maybe last week… We didn’t go too deeply into stuff but I respect him greatly for the way he’s handled his career. To the point now where he’s in a fantastic position. He has a new ocean to navigate, which is a lot more rocky than the world of MMA and UFC.

He continued, “He’s in the wild west of boxing… We’ll see what happens. For me, we would love to be involved in his career. The Anthony Joshua fight is just probably one of the biggest fights that could be made across any kind of 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 respect what he’s done there.”

“…He’s got a golden opportunity now to really solidified himself and many generations beyond him. Through being involved in an event, that would be one of the biggest in fight sports history. [For his first boxing match] I think he should fight Anthony Joshua.”

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