- Francis Ngannou will likely headline the December 23 show in Saudi Arabia
- An announcement about the fight is expected sometime in the next week
- Listen: Eddie Hearn reacts to Fury vs Ngannou THE HOOK – our new boxing podcast
Saudi Arabia is reportedly still planning a huge show on December 23 with Francis Ngannou headlining – even without Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
The latter two were due to fight on that date, but Fury emerged battered and bruised after his controversial victory against Ngannou in October.
Fury was even knocked down and will now need more time to recover than expected after his narrow victory on the scorecard.
However, it appears Ngannou will take his place at the top of the list just before Christmas and an announcement is expected next week, according to Boxing news.
Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker are among the names rumored to be possible opponents for the former UFC champion.
Francis Ngannou will reportedly headline the December 23 event in Saudi Arabia
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk were originally scheduled to meet, but will now meet in February
The Gypsy King needs more time to recover than expected after a nail-biting match with Ngannou
Usyk and Fury were supposed to fight for all the titles in December, but that will have to wait
The report from Boxing News also states that Martin Bakole and Moses Itauma are expected to be invited after impressing the Saudis with their respective knockouts.
Usyk and Fury originally competed in the December 23 event, midway through the Riyadh season, and the former’s promoter said the Gypsy King “can’t escape that.”
After his fight with Ngannou, with nasty purple bruises around his battered left eye, Fury insisted: “I just have some superficial bruises.
“There was a minor head impact and a few bumps, but nothing serious, no major injuries.”
Morecambe’s WBC heavyweight king had struck a deal with the WBA, IBF and WBO to contest all belts.
When asked point-blank whether December 23 was still on the schedule, he said: “I’ll leave that all to my team, I won’t interfere.”