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Boxing

Eddie Hearn discloses when Anthony Joshua will pick coach for Francis Ngannou fight

Eddie Hearn discloses when Anthony Joshua will pick coach for Francis Ngannou fightMark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Anthony Joshua's first fight of 2024 has been announced.

Two weeks after an impressive performance against Otto Wallin, Anthony Joshua's next outing has been announced and it is one that has raised some eyebrows.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is the next man set to face Joshua after the deal was confirmed by promoter Eddie Hearn in a social media post and it is a fight which has plenty of intrigue. 

This meeting with Joshua will be Ngannou's second fight as a professional boxer after making his debut against WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in a contest which saw the Cameroonian knock down Fury in the third round, but this was not enough to get the win on the judges' scorecards. 

Now Ngannou is set to come up against a fighter in Joshua who is not afraid to showcase his power and go toe-toe with whoever he faces, but before the British star can begin his training camp, he needs to make a big decision. 

For his previous fight against Wallin, Joshua had Ben Davison in his corner after having Derrick James as his trainer for the clashes against Robert Helenius and Jermaine Franklin, and after making easy work of Wallin, some are eager to see Joshua continue training with Davison. 

With an Ngannou fight date announcement on the horizon, Joshua needs to make a decision as to who he will have as head trainer and his promoter Eddie Hearn believes that choice will be made at some point this week. 

"He’s flown back to England, so he’s gonna make a decision pretty soon. There’s, what, eight weeks [from] Saturday until the fight?" Hearn told The MMA Hour

“He’ll talk to his team and see where’s best to train. Obviously he had a great camp with Ben, and that decision was made really because of the lack of time [to prepare for] Otto Wallin.

“I think you might see him go out to Saudi a little earlier for this fight. Obviously just three weeks before, you’ve got [Oleksandr] Usyk against [Tyson] Fury out there. So, that’s our ultimate aim: to fight the winner of that fight.

“I haven’t talked to him too much about the details of his camp, but I guess he’ll be putting it together this week.”

 

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