Francis Ngannou targets Deontay Wilder fight despite heavyweight's defeat

23 January 2024 , 10:11

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Francis Ngannou targets Deontay Wilder fight despite heavyweight's defeat

Francis Ngannou still wants to fight Deontay Wilder despite his shocking defeat by Joseph Parker last month.

Former UFC champion Ngannou is currently preparing to fight Anthony Joshua in March after his impressive boxing debut against Tyson Fury. Ngannou left the UFC a year ago in the hopes of fighting the biggest heavyweights in boxing and Wilder is the only name on his hitlist that he still wants to face.

“I’m here for the boxing career, and there, I have a lot of challenges and a lot of names. For example, the top three guys I’ve always had are Fury, Joshua, and Wilder,” Ngannou told Sky Sports’ MMA Club. “Wilder better get it together because I’m not done. I want that name on my record."

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Ngannou and Wilder were linked to a mixed-rules fight in the PFL, but talks fizzled out when Joshua verbally agreed to a two-fight deal with his longtime American rival. Wilder is now set to fight on the undercard of Joshua vs Ngannou but his opponent is yet to be announced.

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"Two months ago, we were talking about fighting Deontay Wilder in the PFL. The landscape can change quickly. Everything is possible. "In my MMA career, I got to the point that is everyone's dream. I was an MMA champion. There are some great fights to do in MMA but there's not a new challenge, something exciting in MMA," Ngannou added.

Ngannou was expected to lose decisively in his crossover fight with heavyweight champion Fury but he dropped the Brit and only lost by a point in a controversial decision. The nature of Fury's win delayed his undisputed fight with Oleksandr Usyk and Ngannou has insisted that if he beats Joshua he will be rematching Fury next.

"I win this fight and I’m fighting Fury period, whether or not he has the belt. Our rematch term was within next year, so it’s going to be October this year. I just want to be free and fight, the thing is with the title is this is a system I don’t want to fall into anymore. You have to make a concession with an organisation, I don’t want that political stuff," he said on The MMA Hour.

Harry Davies