Francis Ngannou almost shocked the world against Tyson Fury, but he’s still an underdog heading into his second professional boxing match.

Opening odds for Ngannou’s just-announced fight with ex-champ Anthony Joshua have been released, and the former UFC titleholder remains in the underdog category, albeit not as deeply as for his fight this past October with Fury.

SportsBetting.ag has set the opening odds for Ngannou vs. Joshua, which reportedly takes place March 9 in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia.

Anthony Joshua: -500

Francis Ngannou: +325

The odds imply Joshua has an 83 percent chance of winning the bout. A $100 bet on the ex-champ would return $20. Ngannou, meanwhile, has a 25 percent chance of winning, and a $100 bet would return $325.

The sportsbook gives Ngannou a much better chance of winning than his fight with Fury, which he lost via split decision despite knocking down Fury in a highly competitive fight. Fury opened at -1400 to Ngannou’s +750, putting an Ngannou win in the territory of massive upset.

Joshua was expected to face power-punching ex-champ Deontay Wilder after defeating Otto Wallin at Day of Reckoning this past month, but Wilder lost to Joseph Parker in a big upset. Joshua’s promoters clearly pivoted to Ngannou for the March 9 date, the originally planned host for Joshua vs. Wilder.

A press conference formally announcing Joshua vs. Ngannou will take place Jan. 15 in London.

MMA Heavyweight Francis Ngannou left a lasting impression in Riyadh after his fight against Tyson Fury, a fight that many believed he actually won. After months of talks and constant negotiations, it has been reported that the Cameroonian martial artist has landed another massive boxing match. Only this time, he is fighting none other than Anthony Joshua in a 10-round fight. Combat sports insider Ariel Helwani was the one who broke the news. It is finally happening after intense negotiations, more details on the fight and press conference leading up to it were released by promoter Eddie Hearn. The Anthony Joshua agent took to Twitter to break the details of the fight.

Eddie Hearn confirms the Joshua v Ngannou fight

About an hour after Ariel Helwani’s exclusive, promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed the fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He also confirmed there will be a press conference on January 15 that is taking place in London. Other than that, there were no more details about this fight but what they revealed should be more than enough to get boxing fans hyped. This is what Eddie Hearn wrote on his Twitter/X account: “Tonight we confirm it’s a Done Deal! Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou collide on a huge night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – press conference Jan 15 in London with full details dropping soon!”

Anthony Joshua had already returned to his best form back in December after beating Otto Wallin with ease during the ‘Day of Reckoning’ boxing event in Riyadh. That gives him enough confidence to take this fight, which won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination. Ngannou proved himself to be a dangerous opponent after his exhibition against Tyson Fury. In fact, Francis did drop Fury in the early rounds of their fight. The victory was given to the ‘Gypsy King’ but we all witnessed Ngannou making a statement. If he wasn’t being taken seriously by other boxing heavyweights, Anthony Joshua wouldn’t even entertain this idea. More details of this event will be revealed on January 15. But for now, get hyped!

Francis Ngannou will return to the boxing ring later this year for a massive fight with former heavyweight titleholder Anthony Joshua.

A former UFC heavyweight champion, Ngannou took a massive amount of criticism in early 2023 when he elected to walk away from the world’s leading MMA promotion and eventually sign on with the PFL.

One of the major selling points that encouraged “The Predator” to join the PFL was the opportunity to test himself in the boxing ring, and in his debut against Tyson Fury last October the 37-year-old very nearly pulled off what would have been perhaps the biggest upset in combat sports history.

The split decision loss to Fury in Saudi Arabia where Ngannou scored the only knockdown of the fight validated the Cameroonian’s boxing aspirations to countless fans, and now Ariel Helwani reports that “The Predator” will return to Riyadh later this year for a ten-round boxing match with Joshua.

While a date for what will almost certainly be one of the biggest combat sports events of the year hasn’t been revealed yet, Helwani did note that there will be press conference in London later this month to formally announce the matchup with further details.

Matchroom Boxing followed up by making the news official and announcing that a fight date will be revealed next week.

One of the biggest names in heavyweight boxing, Joshua has collected three victories this year after he dropped back-to-back fights to Oleksandr Usyk and lost his heavyweight titles in the process.

“AJ” most recently knocked out Otto Wallin in the main event of the highly-touted “Day of Reckoning” card last month that also saw Deontay Wilder suffer an upset loss to Joseph Parker.

Fight fans will undoubtedly be eager to see how Ngannou fares in his sophomore boxing match after his sensational performance against Fury, although this news does raise questions about when “The Predator” intends to make his debut for the PFL this year.