Anthony Joshua’s return to the ring is imminent. Matchroom boss, Eddie Hearn, has expressed his interest in making a fight between former UFC undisputed heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, and Anthony Joshua, according to www.dazn.com.

Ngannou is now a free agent in the world of combat sports after failing to extend his contract with the UFC and he is expected to make a foray into the world of boxing.

The 36-year-old is already being linked with a number of boxing’s biggest names including WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Now and now Hearn is looking to make a deal for a fight with Joshua.

When appearing on The MMA Hour, Hearn revealed that he has held talks with Ngannou and praised the Camerounian for what he has achieved so far.

“He didn’t go too deeply into stuff, but I respect him greatly for the way he’s handled his career to a point where now he’s in a fantastic position.

“He has a new ocean to navigate now, which is a lot more rocky than the world of MMA and UFC in that he’s in the Wild West of boxing.

“We’ll see what happens. For me, we would love to be involved with his career. The Anthony Joshua fight is probably among the biggest fights that can be made in any sport. Obviously the Tyson Fury fight is there for him as well.

“I was pretty captivated by him. I’m not a massive MMA fan, but I still respect what he’s achieved there. But I just found him to be an outstanding gentleman. We’ll see how it goes,” Hearn said.

While taking on either Joshua or Fury will be a difficult boxing debut for Ngannou, Hearn sees this an opportunity for the former UFC star to earn the money, which he feels that he deserves.

“I think he should fight Joshua. These guys have a mountain to climb in terms of the challenge of fighting an elite boxer, but to go through the process of having two or three fights — one fight you might look bad because you’re learning, so the value really is the unknown,” Hearn continued.

“What happens when two titans from the world of fight sports collide? The UFC heavyweight world champion Ngannou and the two-time world heavyweight boxing champion Joshua. The complete unknown.

“The unknown of how good is Ngannou? We know he punches extremely hard, if he lands one on Joshua, is it the greatest upset of all time? Or will AJ completely steamroll him and you’ll see Ngannou get knocked out? That’s the attraction of that fight, the unknown.

“So for me, if I’m representing Ngannou, I want to make sure that this next move, I maximize every dollar that’s out there.” (The Guardian)

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