The opening odds for the upcoming Francis Ngannou vs Anthony Joshua boxing bout have been unveiled.
Veteran MMA journalist Ariel Helwani announced on Friday that Ngannou will face off against Joshua in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia March 9. The bout is scheduled for ten rounds, the pre-fight press conference of which will be held in London. Originally set to fight Wilder, Joshua shifted to face Ngannou after the American’s loss to Joseph Parker.
Breaking:
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 5, 2024
Francis Ngannou vs. Anthony Joshua is a done deal, per @Turki_alalshikh.
Ten-round boxing match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
More: pic.twitter.com/e6Hsc6Fh70
Promoter Eddie Hearn had highlighted Ngannou as an option for the British heavyweight in a recent interview on IFL TV.
“So right now we have three fights that we’re in discussions for,” Hearn told. “They’re all big and that doesn’t involve Deontay Wilder for March. Our aim, and we’ve expressed this, is to fight the winner of Fury-Usyk. That’s all we want to do. Obviously, there’s the [Filip] Hrgovic fight out there for the world heavyweight title. There’s a Francis Ngannou fight out there, which would be absolutely colossal. There’s other heavyweights as well. The [Zhilei] Zhang fight possibly as well with Queensbury.”
After the fight was confirmed on Friday evening, BetOnline wasted no time in revealing the opening odds, which slightly favor Joshua at -155, while Ngannou is a slight underdog with odds at +125.
That means if you decide to bet $100 on Ngannou and he wins, you could potentially make $125. Conversely, to gain a $100 profit from a Joshua victory, you would need to wager $155. These odds reflect the bookmakers’ assessments of each fighter’s likelihood of winning in simple terms.
Ngannou stepped into the boxing ring for the first time against Tyson Fury in October last year, when he garnered a lot of praise for pushing ‘The Gypsy King’ to his limit. Joshua on the other hand is on a three-fight winning run, with his recent victory coming against Otto Wallin.
Who do you think will win between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou?
