Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou LIVE: UK start time confirmed, full undercard results and how to follow...

Anthony Joshua will take on UFC star Francis Ngannou in a huge crossover boxing event in Saudi Arabia tonight.

AJ is in the process of rebuilding his career after losing his world titles and comes into 2024 off the back of a three-fight win streak.

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The Brit continued his recovery from suffering successive defeats to Oleksandr Usyk by knocking out Otto Wallin in December.

Joshua had been set to face Deontay Wilder next, but the Bronze Bomber's defeat to Joseph Parker on the same night has seen him pivot to another one of Tyson Fury's conquests instead.

Fury and Usyk were set to be involved in an undisputed showdown before Joshua returned to the ring.

However, that fight has been pushed back until May meaning AJ will need to keep himself in contention to either fight the victor or step in as a replacement if the undisputed bout is postponed again.

Meanwhile, former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou will be appearing in only his second-ever professional boxing bout.

The Predator stunned the world on his debut when he floored Fury last October, although the WBC heavyweight world champion ultimately won via split decision.

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Joshua vs Ngannou: Date and start time

This ten-round heavyweight clash is going ahead on Friday, March 8.

It is taking place on a Friday due to the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit also being held that weekend.

The boxing action is once again scheduled to take place at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - the location for Joshua's win over Wallin, and Ngannou's defeat to Fury.

Timings for this event have now been confirmed with the undercard action starting at 3:20pm UK time.

The ring-walks for Joshua vs Ngannou can then be expected from 11pm ahead of the official start time at 11:20pm, which is 2:20am local time.

Joshua vs Ngannou: How to follow

talkSPORT will be bang across fight week with live updates on the night while talkSPORT.com will be running a live blog as well.

To tune in to talkSPORT through the website, click HERE for the live stream. You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

You can also enjoy a free live watchalong from 9pm via the talkSPORT Boxing YouTube channel, with commentary and reaction as it happens from Spencer Oliver and Adam Catterall, plus special guests Josh Warrington and Troy Deeney. 

The heavyweight clash will be broadcast on TV on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and also on DAZN PPV worldwide.

The Sky Sports PPV price will be £19.95 and will start from 4pm - more details can be found here.

The DAZN UK PPV price will be £19.99 - this includes one month's DAZN subscription - and will get going from 3pm. For existing DAZN subscribers, the UK PPV price will be £18.99.

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Joshua vs Ngannou: Weigh-in

Ngannou will take a massive weight advantage into the fight.

He hit the scales at 272.6lb [19.6 stone] at the weigh-in on Thursday afternoon. 

AJ came in at 252.4lbs [18 stone], meaning his opponent weighs almost two stone more.

The pair then took part in an intense staredown in their final face-off before the fight.

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Joshua vs Ngannou: Undercard

In the co-main event, Zhilei Zhang (26-1-1) will face Joseph Parker (34-3) following marquee victories for both heavyweights last year.

Zhang twice stopped Joe Joyce to claim the WBO 'interim' belt, while Parker stunned Deontay Wilder on AJ's last Saudi Arabia card.

Elsewhere, in the featherweight division, Rey Vargas (36-1) will defend his WBC belt against Nick Ball (19-0).

Rounding out the card is Tyson Fury's brother Roman Fury (3-0), who will continue his cruiserweight career against Martin Svarc (2-0).

Timings could change

• MAIN EVENT: Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou - 11:20pm
• Zhilei Zhang vs Joseph Parker - for WBO interim heavyweight title - 10:20pm
• Rey Vargas vs Nick Ball - for WBC featherweight title - 9:20pm
• Israil Madrimov vs Magomed Kubanov - 8:20pm
• Mark Chamberlain vs Gavin Gwynne - 7:30pm
• Justis Huni vs Kevin Lerena - 6:20pm
• Jack McGann vs Louis Greene - 5:05pm
• Roman Fury vs Martin Svarc - 4:40pm
• Ziyad Almaayouf vs Christian Lopes Flores - 4:05pm
• Andrii Novytskyi vs Juan Torres - 3:20pm

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Joshua vs Ngannou: What has been said?

Ngannou has made a surprise admission ahead of his fight with Joshua - following AJ's trainer, Ben Davison, claiming he will struggle with his cardio.

“Yes, that’s true,” Ngannou said. "I will struggle to do 10 rounds. I struggle to do 10 rounds, and if anyone doesn’t struggle to 10 rounds, you’re something else, you aren’t human.

"You know, I’m human, everybody gets tired after 10 rounds. That’s right, I struggled, and I have no problem with it because it’s a learning process.

“I’m here to learn. I struggled in my first fight with Tyson Fury and in fact, in that fight, I was questioning myself like, ‘What will happen when I get in the third round? How will I feel?'

"I’ve never been in a professional boxing match for four rounds, six rounds, or eight rounds – and that was 10 rounds!

“So, yes, I did struggle. But I think [Fury] struggled as well, maybe more.”

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As for Joshua, the two-time heavyweight champion has been told he cannot underestimate Ngannou by Joshua Buatsi.

Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT.com, Buatsi, who trained closely with Joshua when previously signed to his management company, was asked whether facing Ngannou is the right choice.

To which he said: "Yeah, why not? I think to summarise it, whoever he faces, I will always say Joshua will win.

"I'm biased like that, I'm not going to lie about it."

Pressed on whether Ngannou poses a threat with his power, Buatsi remarked: "Of course there is. Look what he did to Fury! He showed us that he can box.

"Because I thought originally, he's going to start quick and then just gas out and have no idea what to do. But the three-minute rounds, he was able to do it.

"In the UFC they have three, five-minute rounds, so I thought that system might have got to him.

"But not at all, he was impressive, very impressive."

Joshua, though, has cut a relaxed figure in the build-up and had a simple message for any doubters, declaring: "Official prediction? I deliver, I'm the postman," Joshua said.

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Ngannou is hoping his ‘world record power’ will be enough to get him a big win against Joshua, who some fans have accused of having a suspect chin during his career.

The latter found an unlikely ally in the form of Fury, who shockingly insisted that Joshua’s punch resistance is perfectly fine.

He said: “Listen, the man has been a world heavyweight champion, and you don’t get that if you’ve got a glass chin.

“We are rivals, so I could talk s*** about him all I want, and he can do the same about me. All them [fans] can’t because they don’t know fighting, they aren’t champions, so they don’t have the right to do it.

“Anyone who wants to say, ‘AJ has a glass chin’ it’s all bulls*** really.”

Joshua vs Ngannou: Betting with talkSPORT BET

Fight odds:

*odds correct as of 07/03