Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is set to continue its takeover of the sport of boxing with the wildly expected 'Knockout Chaos' event that will have the stellar fight between heavyweights Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou. After his boxing debut against Tyson Fury, the former UFC star loved the taste of the sport (and millions of dollars) to the point of booking his next fight almost immediately. Only this time, his opponent is Anthony Joshua and arguably the biggest challenge of his career to date. Because unlike Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua stays fit and ready throughout the entire year and wants to prove his losses against Oleksandr Usyk were a mistake. Taking this fight made sense in terms of both money and the challenge. Because despite Tyson Fury's clear unpreparedness, Ngannou was still facing a reigning world heavyweight champion and dropped him.

Anthony Joshua will take Francis Ngannou seriously

With Francis Ngannou's performance against Tyson Fury in mind, Anthony Joshua and promoter Eddie Hearn understand this is a worthy opponent and a perfect way to maintain Joshua on his road to get a new title shot against the winner of the Fury vs Usyk fight in May. We are finally going to see how much of this hype from Ngannou is real and how much experience he gained from fighting Tyson Fury. Those who are underestimating the former UFC champion should think twice because we have never seen an athlete like him before. In less than a decade, Ngannou has gone from being an unknown fighter to UFC champion, to knocking a boxing heavyweight champion down during his boxing debut. We will give you all the updates of what happens in this fight that is taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou LIVE: Get the latest updates from the fight at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Update narration

Former UFC champion Francis Ngannou has a date with history on Friday, when he steps into the ring for the second time in his entire career to face one of the most feared heavyweights of the last decade. He already had a tremendous showing against Tyson Fury late in 2023 despite losing by decision, but his performance was lauded by absolutely everybody. Many even thought he won the fight back then but the judges didn't allow it. With that one fight under his belt, Ngannou agreed to fight for the second time in his career against another rival that people see as the favorite. Anthony Joshua is his rival, the former heavyweight champion that has been making his comeback after losing the belts against Oleksandr Usyk in two fights.

Anthony Joshua seeks the title fight after this

According to organizers and the councils, the winner of this fight could get a title shot against the winner of the unification bout between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk that was rescheduled to May 18 after the Brit suffered an eyebrow cut during a sparring session. For Anthony Joshua, this is the most important fight to date because he is after that third time of putting those belts around his body. For Francis Ngannou, getting a title fight in a sport that technically isn't his own would be a unique event to behold in sports history. The event preliminaries are set to start at 14:00 ET and the main event is expected to start at 18:00 ET. The co-main event is another heavyweight fight between Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker. Joshua and Ngannou will fight for 10 rounds that will last 3 minutes each.

Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou LIVE: Get the latest updates from the fight at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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