Francis Ngannou has forged doubt on Anthony Joshua's probabilities of combating Deontay Wilder by revealing his personal talks with the hard-hitting heavyweight.

Joshua and Wilder will face separate opponents in Saudi Arabia on December 23 with the winners anticipated to conflict subsequent 12 months - if Ngannou would not get there first.

Ngannou shocked the boxing world by dropping Tyson Fury of their conflict in October earlier than shedding the struggle on factors within the Middle East. He now appears to be like set to pursue a profession in each boxing and MMA - and believes he may safe a mixed-rules struggle with Wilder in 2024.

"I prefer to fight only the top fighters," Ngannou advised the Last Stand podcast. "Why did I fight Tyson Fury? Because he is the top of the game, I wanted to get in there at the top and I want the best. I want the big fights, the big show. I want everything big. At the end of the day, it is a sport, we do what we have to do.

"The dialog of a combined guidelines struggle with Deontay Wilder is true, as a result of even earlier than this struggle [against Tyson Fury], we now have been having discussions."

Ngannou has but to substantiate whether or not his subsequent struggle shall be within the ring or the cage, however shall be watching intently on December 23 when Joshua takes on Otto Wallin and Wilder faces Joseph Parker. The rivals will seemingly face off afterwards, assuming they win their respective fights in Riyadh.

A  conflict between Joshua and Wilder has lengthy been mooted however a deal to stage the bout this 12 months fell by way of. The Saudis had meant to host Tyson Fury's undisputed conflict with Oleksandr Usyk two days earlier than Christmas however that bout has been delayed till February 17, forcing the last-minute meeting of an alternate card.

And former world champion Joshua is assured he can beat Wallin and return to the most important stage. “I’m looking forward to delivering my message to Otto Wallin on December 23,” he stated. “I can’t predict the future but I know what I want to do. I believe I’m going to be three-time heavyweight champion and the first step is to put a demolition job on Otto Wallin.

“It’s going to be a really good time to go to Saudi. It’s going to be big, we haven’t seen a card like this before. This is not a one-stop shop. This is a vision, this is my first stop and I will deliver the message. I’m determined to win and get back to my peak.”