Anthony Joshua will fight Francis Ngannou in heavyweight showdown set for March 8 in Saudi Arabia

Anthony Joshua will fight former UFC champion Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia – with Friday, March 8 the believed date.

The former heavyweight champion, who beat Otto Wallin before Christmas, will return to Riyadh to face Ngannou.

It will be a 10-round bout and according to Joshua’s post on X, formerly Twitter, it will happen on March 8.

Uploading a picture of himself wrapping his hands, the Brit captioned the post on Saturday with: ‘Ahh sh*t, here we go again.. 8/3/24.’

The 37-year-old Ngannou was the heavyweight champion in UFC but has only boxed one professionally, coming close to a sensational shock when he floored Tyson Fury in October before eventually losing on a split decision.

The Cameroonian will return to Saudi Arabia to take on Joshua, whose plans to fight Deontay Wilder were scuppered by the American’s loss to Joseph Parker.

Joshua, who has been without a belt since his loss to Oleksandr Usyk in October last year, was targeting a fight against hard-hitting Croatian Filip Hrgovic but will now take on Ngannou.

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn posted on X on Friday night: ‘Tonight we confirm it’s a Done Deal! @anthonyjoshua v @francis-ngannou collide on a huge night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – press conference Jan 15 in London with full details dropping soon!’