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Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou undercard in FULL: Joseph Parker clashes with Zhilei Zhang and Tyson Fury’s brother features

Published

3 months ago

March 2, 2024

Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou undercard in FULL: Joseph Parker clashes with Zhilei Zhang and Tyson Fury's brother features

Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou will be preceded by an intriguing supporting cast before their crossover fight.

Boxing’s former unified heavyweight world champion and MMA’s ex-UFC heavyweight king are set to clash on March 8 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the full undercard has now been confirmed.

AJ vs Ngannou is set for March 8Credit: Getty

In the co-main event, Zhilei Zhang (26-1-1) will face Joseph Parker (34-3) in a fascinating heavyweight showdown.

The two top contenders will meet after both picking up marquee wins last year.

Zhang twice stopped Joe Joyce to claim the WBO ‘interim’ belt, which entitles him to an eventual mandatory shot at one of the four belts at stake when Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk clash on May 18.

Meanwhile Parker stunned Deontay Wilder, outboxing him for a comfortable unanimous decision win.

Zhang vs Parker should produce great action

Now, the pair will meet on March 8, though there are also two world title fights on the card.

Firstly in the featherweight division, Rey Vargas (36-1) is set to defend his WBC belt against Nick Ball (19-0).

The Mexican champion has been inactive and lost his last fight as he attempted to move up in weight, while the British challenger will fancy his chances as he is unbeaten thus far.

As well as this, in the super-welterweight division, Uzbekistan’s Israil Madrimov (9-0-1) will face Russia’s Magomed Kurbanov (25-0) for the vacant WBA crown.

Further down the card, there is an interesting all-British lightweight clash between Mark Chamberlain (14-0) and Gavin Gwynne (17-2-1).

In another intriguing affair, unbeaten Australian heavyweight Justis Huni (8-0) will meet South Africa’s Kevin Lerena (30-2), who is best known for his three-round thriller with Daniel Dubois in 2022.

Also, Jack McGann (9-0-1) will return against Louis Greene (16-4) in a super-welterweight contest, Saudi super-lightweight prospect Ziyad Almaayouf (4-0) is set to face Christian Lopez Flores (14-35-2), and Ukrainian heavyweight Andrii Novytskyi (4-0) will fight Juan Torres (11-5-1).

Rounding out the card is Tyson Fury’s brother Roman Fury (3-0), who will continue progressing in the early stages of his cruiserweight career against Martin Svarc (2-0).