NO SOONER had Anthony Joshua taken care of Otto Wallin on December 23 than Francis Ngannou set the ball rolling for his own fight with the English heavyweight icon.
Of course, that Day of Reckoning card had been set up almost entirely as a prelude for Joshua’s long-awaited fight with Deontay Wilder, which the Saudis had set their sights on for March.
But when a toothless Wilder was completely outboxed by Joseph Parker, that plan was torpedoed, leaving a huge gap in the Riyadh Season schedule. Ngannou, ever the opportunist, sensed an opportunity.
“I started the talks for that fight on December 23,” he said. “It was that quickly. I was
