He shared this throughout an look on the MMA Hour, saying: "I reached out to Francis Ngannou's team, and I said, 'Just to let you know, we're up for discussing the Francis Ngannou [vs.] AJ fight. I never heard back from them.'"

Ngannou, who made his boxing debut towards Tyson Fury, acquired loads of reward regardless of dropping by a break up resolution with many followers believing he did sufficient to win. The boxing world is now desirous to see who Ngannou will combat subsequent, with a match towards AJ a thrilling possibility.

However, Hearn believes a rematch between Ngannou and Fury would possibly already be within the works after their first combat. He added: "So I think probably, knowing the business, I would say that probably Fury-Ngannou is almost probably agreed to post Fury-[Oleksandr] Usyk already."

"[Ngannou will] feel like, after that first fight," he continued. "He can beat Fury, but there's no point [in boxing non-stars] - he can really lose to anybody in the top 50 at heavyweight, so you've got to cash in at this point."

"There's really only three fights that cash into the levels that he will want [Fury, Joshua, or Deontay Wilder]. So I'd guess, and you might know better, Francis Ngannou will fight in the PFL or wherever in spring or summer of 2024, and then he'll fight Tyson Fury at the end of [2024]. I would think that would be the mindset of the team."

After Ngannou's controversial defeat by Fury, Hearn rapidly prompt a match-up with Joshua. He claimed it could possibly be "one of the biggest fights in the history of the sport," primarily if it came about in Africa, reflecting the fighters' heritage. "I'm looking at it, and I'm thinking, Francis Ngannou against Anthony Joshua, perhaps in Africa, perhaps the Rumble in the Jungle 2, is one of the biggest fights in the history of the sport," Hearn said again in October.

"And I promise you this, respect to Francis - easy work for my man [Joshua]. And I know you're getting a little high right now. I know the MMA world is just walking in the clouds, but we'll bring it straight back down to reality." Joshua has bounced again from two crushing losses to Oleksandr Usyk as he misplaced his world titles to the Ukrainian.

AJ has been increase his confidence and momentum with a unanimous resolution win over Jermaine Franklin in April, adopted by a seventh-round knockout of Robert Helenius in August. He's desirous to reclaim his champion title, however with Fury and Usyk prone to face off subsequent yr, he would possibly want to think about different choices for now.

Rumors are swirling a couple of potential combat with Deontay Wilder, who's eager to tackle the 2012 Olympic champ. However, as issues stand, neither Joshua nor Ngannou have a confirmed combat lined up for 2024. Nevertheless, AJ is about to step into the ring towards Otto Wallin in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 23.