Saudi Arabia’s Contrasting Treatment for Dana White and Francis Ngannou as Ex-UFC Star Reaps the Benefits Facing Anthony Joshua in “Golden Age of Boxing”

Francis Ngannou bagged yet another bi-name opponent for his next boxing match. Former world champion Anthony Joshua will fight ‘The Predator’ later this year in Saudi Arabia. Apparently, the Saudi officials appeared to be more in support of Ngannou than his former employee, Dana White, which was revealed during a recent media scrum.

Ngannou and Joshua’s team spoke to the media in Saudi Arabia as they confirmed the date for their fight. The duo will battle each other inside the squared circle on March 8. Meanwhile, English promoter Frank Warren revealed the role the Saudi Royalty played in making these fights become a reality. Let’s see what he had to say.

Francis Ngannou has the support of Saudi officials

The former UFC heavyweight champion’s first boxing match also took place in Saudi Arabia. The Middle-Eastern nation has shown tremendous Cameroonian-French as Frank Warren revealed that it would not have been possible for Ngannou to get to fight someone like Tyson Fury otherwise.

“If it wasn’t for his excellency, his team, and the support of the Riyadh Season of Saudi Arabia, these fights would not be happening… He has been instrumental in making these fights happen,” said Frank Warren.

Furthermore, they also played a big role in bringing Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn into the mix and pitting ‘AJ’ against Francis Ngannou for another blockbuster boxing heavyweight clash. Warren added, “We made another big fight that’s going to happen. His [Hearn’s] best [Joshua] against our best [Ngannou]. We are going to make that event happen.”

Having witnessed such big fights taking place for fans to see, Frank Warren believes that we are witnessing the most important era in the sport of boxing. “We are in probably the Golden Age of boxing… without a doubt,” the 71-year-old promoter added. However, the same cannot be said for the UFC and its deal with Saudi Arabia. Dana White recently suffered a major blow after their UFC Fight Night Event in the Middle-Eastern nation got postponed.

UFC’s first Saudi Arabia gets postponed by three months

Not too long ago, the UFC struck a deal with the Saudi officials for a Fight Night event in the country. WWE owner Vince McMahon played a major role in UFC landing the deal since his promotion had strong ties in Saudi Arabia and holds yearly premium live events. However, that deal seemingly took a hit as the event got postponed. UFC Fight Night 238 was supposed to take place on March 2, but recent reports suggest that the event has been postponed to June.

The reason behind the postponement of the event was reportedly due to the Saudi Arabian higher-ups wanting a change in the fight card. Apparently, they weren’t happy with what Dana White had planned for the Fight Night event. Instead, fans will get to witness Francis Ngannou take on Anthony Joshua in March.

Watch This Story: Francis Ngannou Breaks A Glass Door 

Despite Dana White not being too keen on Francis Ngannou’s boxing ambitions, the Cameroonian-French fighter has proved the UFC CEO wrong once again. If he can beat Anthony Joshua, we can see ‘The Predator’ go up the rankings. However, there is a chance that Ngannou could end up fighting either Oleksandr Usyk or Tyson Fury for the undisputed heavyweight championship down the line. What do you think?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.

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