SAUD & CLEAR
Anthony Joshua breaks silence on huge Francis Ngannou clash and appears to reveal date for Saudi showdown
The Watford warrior has seemingly revealed the date for his ring return
ANTHONY JOSHUA has broken his silence on his showdown with Francis Ngannou - and he's seemingly leaked the date for their crossover clash.
The former two-time unified heavyweight champion will throw down with the MMA man-mountain in a multi-million-pound Saudi showdown later this year.
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Eddie Hearn shocked the combat sports world early on Saturday morning by announcing the duo's Riyadh Rumble.
Matchroom Boxing chief Hearn, however, stopped short of revealing the date for the fight.
But Joshua appears to have revealed the date in his first social media post since the announcement of the contest.
Taking to his Instagram story this morning, AJ shared the well-known Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas meme featuring main character CJ.
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In the meme, CJ says: "Ah s**t, here we go again."
Joshua, 34, wrote "8/3/23" underneath the meme - seemingly alluding to the date for his clash with the Cameroonian clubber.
It's more than likely, however, that the pair will throw down on March 9th as the eighth is a Friday.
Boxing fans were quick to react to AJ's post, with one commenting: "On a Friday?"
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Another said: "What happened to not being interested in Ngannou and rather be[ing a] world champion?"
And another said: "Easy nights work to set up a big 2024 for AJ LETS GOOO."
One remarked: "Fact he’s gonna get maybe 50 million quid for this fight is mental."
Another chimed in: "Here we go again to make some f***ing money!"
Former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou announced himself to boxing fans around the world last October with a stunning display against Tyson Fury.
'The Predator' shocked the world with an incredible performance in his first professional boxing match, in which he DROPPED Fury.
Fury's blushes were saved thanks to a split decision verdict, although the rise in his stock made Ngannou the real winner of the night.
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Boxing fans are still digesting Joshua's decision to throw down with Professional Fighters League pounder Ngannou.
But long-time promoter Hearn revealed last week the fight could come to fruition if a showdown with mandatory IBF title challenger Filip Hrgovic couldn't be made.
He told iFL TV: "Right now, we have three fights that we're in discussions for.
"They're all big and that doesn't involve Deontay Wilder for March. Our aim, and they've expressed this is to fight the winner of Fury-Usyk.
"That's all we want to do, obviously there's the Hrgovic fight out there for the world heavyweight title.
"There's a Francis Ngannou fight out there which would be absolutely colossal.
"There's other heavyweights as well, there's a Zhang fight possible as well with Queensberry."
Hearn was critical of Ngannou's skillset ahead of his clash with Fury, saying: "If you watch him on the pads.
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"I don't want to be disrespectful.
"But there is absolutely no way in the world that Francis Ngannou could win even a Southern Area title.
"Johnny Fisher is our guy, Southern Area champion.
"Johnny Fisher vs Ngannou is a total mismatch, Fisher would have him out of there in a round."
But after watching him bamboozle Fury, he said: “I can’t believe what we were watching.
"A complete novice in everybody’s book just beat Tyson Fury. Ngannou won that fight.
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"He dropped him. I mean, they did very little in the back end of the fight.
"But Fury looked like ... you’re talking about the lineal heavyweight champion of the world.”
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